Back Home
by DarkRedWillow
Summary: Willow is back from England, the scoobies and her tries to reconstruct their relationship. No potential slayers, no First, but probably an apocalypse later on.
1. Chapter 1

Everything's quiet when Buffy got home. She dropped her keys on the living room's coffee table, her purse on the floor and finally herself on the nice, big, comfy couch.

Not even bothering taking her jacket off, she looked at the time on the vcr and smiled. Dawn won't be back for at least 4 hours, and will probably wind up calling from Janice's to say she's sleeping over. Her whole house for herself, at last!

'Wait, for herself and Willow', she remembered. Her best friend and roommate was so quiet these days that sometimes Buffy almost forgot they were three of us living in the Summers house again.

The idea of being alone with Willow tonight actually sounded good, she thought. It felt like they've only crossed each other for the last several weeks, Willow leaving for school when Buffy was getting up and Will often already asleep when she was coming back from patrol.

The only time Buffy really spent with the redhead was when Will was recovering from the Gnarl's vicious attack she realised, not without shame.

'I should've taken the time to ask her to sit down so we could talk, about...whatever'. Instead, she thought it was best to give her friend some space, so she could get back on her feet at her own pace. 'Maybe it was a mistake'.

God knows what almost happened everytime a scooby decided to give another "space" rather than showing his concern and step in. She had talked to Giles last night, and he had told her he found both her and Willow tired on the phone. He actually seemed to be worried about the witch.

Buffy admitted her best friend did look tired, even a little exhausted: she was starting to have dark circles under her eyes, and found her a couple of times dead asleep on the couch, or the head in the books.

Everytime she would ask Willow about it though, she always got the same answer: lots of homework, maybe still struggling a little with the "go to bed at a reasonnable hour" principle. Buffy understood, far from being a good sleeper either, so she let it go. Kinda.

She couldn't help but check on her friend every night, before and after coming back from patrol. Truth is, they were practically the only times where Willow would lower her guard, and almost looked like the best friend and quasi sister Buffy've known and loved for years.

Except for nightmares nights. God she hated those. She was sacred to death the first time she ever heard Willow's gut wrenching screams.

Buffy doubted she will ever forget the pain and terror she saw in her friend's eyes when she was finally able to wake her up. It took nearly two hours before Will had found sleep again, her hands clutching at Buffy's shirt.

But those nights were becoming less and less present now, since the slayer had been able to snap the redhead out of her bad dreams before they got too bad, sometimes even without waking her.

Those peaceful nights, even if they weren't as many as she'd liked, gave Buffy high hope for being able to see her friend back to her old self. 'She'll never be exactly the same, but if there's a day where she's finally capable to get up in the morning with a little smile instead of those horrific memories...

' Yep, Buffy definitely needed a night-off from staking and dusting. 'I'll swing by Spike's crypt to ask him to take over for the night later, as soon as Will will get home'.

A frown suddenly clouded Buffy's features when she looked at the time again. 'Willow should be back already, she only has one class on wednesdays.' Standing up and about to go check upstairs for any best friendy sign, Buffy turned around to go see if there was a note on the freezer first.

'Okay, nothing on the fridge nor the counter'. She was about to head for the stairs when she took a peek outside and, surprised, saw her friend sitting on the grass in the yard.

Willow had her back against the big old oak tree, and seemed to be concentrating hard at something Buffy couldn't see. There was only one thing the slayer was certain of: Willow was doing magicks.


	2. Chapter 2

Her eyes are closed, deeply concentrating at something still invisible before her. With her back to the yard's old oak tree and shivering slightly against the coolness of the afternoon, Willow didn't hear the back door open and slowly closing. Neither did she hear the soft steps approching her.

With one last deep and sluggish breath, she carefully open her eyes. Watching the small maple tree slowly growing in front of her, Willow allowed herself a little smile when she noticed something, or rather someone at the corner of her eye: Buffy.

'Crap'. «Oh. Buffy. I, uh, I didn't see you there!» Fear and well, fear filled the witch's eyes when she saw her friend standing a few feet away.

Willow's fear changed in confusion though when the blonde only stood there, observing the maple tree, a curious expression on her face. Confusion that soon became embarrassment when she realised Buffy was talking to her, making her blush almost as red as her hair.

«I, um, I'm sorry, what?»

«It's from Canada, right? I mean we don't see a lot of them around here».

Willow just stared nervously at her, her mouth slightly open and her hands absently rubbing each other.

'Great. She must think I'm mad and I'll go all 'slayery' on her'.

«I'm sorry, but I saw you through the window and well, you looked cold», she added lamely, holding a blanket in ine hand.

'Way to go Buffy, now she looks at you like she's crazy, or like I'm crazy'.

Buffy stands there, fidgeting on her feet for a few seconds when Willow's soft voice suddenly echoed in the air.

«Yeah, it is.»

«What?»

«The tree? We actually do have those in a couple of states, but this one? It is from our northy neighbor.»

"Oh. That's cool, maybe we could wait what, 20 years in we could have real maple syrup directly from our yard!"

Buffy smiles at Willow's chuckles and small grin. «Or we could just go to the store and buy some. Kinda faster that way.»

Both girls lowered their eyes on the tree for an instant, when Willow's comment startled Buffy. «Aren't you gonna yell now?»

Buffy walked closer to Willow, perplex. «Why would I yell?» Her friend's hushed answer almost made her doubt she even heard it, but her slayer hearing catched everything: «Because I was doing magicks.»

The way Willow whispered it, the way her shoulders were sagged and especially the way how she firmly refused to make eye contact with her made Buffy's skin crawl.

Finally realising how dead-on she was on her 'give her space plan' crap, Buffy quickly sat directly in front of the wicca, took her hands in hers, stopping their repeatedly scratching motion.

«Willow? Come on, look at me...»

Buffy sighed when she got no reaction from the redhead. Slowly lifting her hand, she delicately cupped her friend's face, and give it the slightest movement, eventually forcing Willow to face her.

«Will, look at me. Please?»

Buffy's heart sank when she looked into her best friend's emerald eyes. Although they were dry, they bore guilt, depair, and a lot of fear.

'Am I that scary?' Buffy thought with a hinge of regret. The 'God she's gonna to kill me' look was something she was used to see on vampires an other demons, but it wasn't a look she was supposed to see on her best friend, EVER.

«There isn't going to be any yelling, Willow. »

Seeing the puzzled look on the redhead's face, Buffy realised a little teasing might be in order to lighten the mood.

«Why, do you want to be yelled at? Because choose a topic, and I'm pretty sure I can come up with something...»

«I- um, I don't- uh. You're weird.» Stammered Willow, still confused but not as nervous anymore.

Edging closer to her friend, until their shoulders were touching, Buffy laughed softly. «I'm maybe weird, but that's part of my charm.» Slowly putting her arm around Willow's shoulders, Buffy leaned her back on the tree, dragging Willow along with her.

«I know you're still doing magicks, that it's the only way to get a grip on them so they won't end up controlling you again.»

Willow, who had stiffened when Buffy hugged her, started to relax a little. Still, Buffy could feel the tension wrecking the witch's body, so she pulled her even closer, using the blanket to cover them both against the chill.

Giles had said that the best way to help her friend on the way back to recovery was to just make contact with Willow, that just the simplest touch, like a simple hug, was sometimes enough to help her keep grounded.

But, moreover, that Willlow was in dire need to be remembered that human contact didn't always have to be...upsetting. He wouldn't explain, but she knew there would be another serious discussion with her watcher, and soon about that.

Holding her friend tighter, Buffy can't help but smile when, after a few minutes, she felt Willow softly leaning against her and put her head on her shoulder.

«So, are you sure about the waiting 20 years thingy? 'Cause I'm really in the mood for pancakes right now...»


	3. Chapter 3

«And don't forget, your final paper is due on Friday at the latest, and there will be no extention people, so those who hadn't started yet better wish the class catches fire before then or you will be in trouble!»

' He should be careful about suggesting ideas like that' thinks Willow as she left the class. 'Anyone pissed or desperate enough to wish that could obliviously do it in front of a vengeance demon and well, we'd all know how that could end'.

Willow walked rapidly away from the campus and towards home –Buffy's home. She's been back for over two months now, but still can't get herself to call her best friend's house her home.

Xander, Buffy and even Dawn seemed pretty much comfortable around her again, but...there was this thing they sometimes did, like when they stopped talking or changed subject suddenly when she entered a room, that made her wonder just how much they really wanted her back in Sunnydale.

'No, don't think about that, not now' she decided. Going back to school was actually one of the only good sides of being back.

It allowed her to get out of the house, away from questionning and concerned glares from Buffy, and suspicious ones from Dawn, and forced her to focus on things that weren't related to her meltdown last spring.

The redhead still felt nauseous whenever she had to stay in her former room for too long, memories of all the blood and the screams rushing at her. Oh Goddess the blood...

Willow stopped for a second and shook her head, forcing the horrid visions out. 'School, resume deep thoughts about school, about the paper that I already handed to the professor before leaving'. It got her a few dirty looks from other students, but who cares, at least she didn't have to come back on Friday now.

And, moreover, Willow thought with a little smile, things with Buffy took an unexpectedly turn the other day. A good turn.

She got so scared when she saw the slayer observing her in the yard, she would have cried when Buffy sat with her and just started talking to her. Talking _with_ her. Really talking, even if her best friend could ask a lot of questions in one breath!

'Her best friend'. The redhead was so desperate to find a way to reconnect with

the others, especially Buffy, that she would have answered anything the small

blonde would have asked her. Well, a lot, but everything...

Even though they did chat for a little while about England, about the Coven, Giles, and even about magicks, which felt so good, there were things Willow refused to talk about, things only Giles and a couple of witches knew. Things she intended to keep for herself as long as possible.

Completely concentrated on getting her mind back on more pleasant thoughts, Willow missed the shadows slowly following her from across the street. It is only when she felt the familiar tingling of the magics creeping down her spine that she realised something was wrong.

She barely had time to turn around that a bright magic blast hit her hard, sending her to crash heavily against a tree nearby. Unable to move from the pain, Willow weakly tried to get her bearings back when she saw multiple shadows approaching her, or rather three individuals after she's blinked a few times.

She then realised that she was near the Restfield cemetary, which made her remember that Buffy might already be on patrol. If she could just summon enough power to keep the freaks away... She just succeded on getting on her knees when the second blast smashed her back against the tree with a sickly bone cracking sound echoing in the air.

A sharp cry of pain from the wicca welcomed the attackers, as one of them kneeled in front of Willow. It grabbed her by the throat and pulled her up harshly, until her feet were dangling in the air.

Even though she was dizzy and disoriented, Willow tried to free herself but only managed to kick the demon ineffectively in the shins. With a laugh, the greyish-looking creature tossed her on the ground and straddled her on the waist to keep her from moving.

-So this is the "wicked powerful" witch that almost destroyed the world? I must say I'm disappointed, one little bang against a tree and already out of it? Come on, my boys are watching, they want to see sparkles and fireworks before we drain you. After all, you owe us, isn't it?

Struggling for air and desperately trying not to faint from the lancinant pain in her arm and back, Willow looked deep in the green eyes of what she knew to be some sort of Kleck demon, or was it a Staurk demon?

'Great Willow, babble on What kind of demon wants to rip you in pieces instead of trying to save your ass'.

All she knew is that she had an idea what he meant by 'having fun' and so she had to find a way to finish this fast, one way or another.

"I don't owe you. A. Ny. Thing."

"Ohhh, that's cute." The redhead's jaw was back-handed hard, making Willow dizzy and seeing stars. "You want to be brave, like your slayer friend? Believe me, it won't do you any good."

Allowing all of his weight to rest on the witch's thin frame, the leaned close on her.

Willow couldn't help to moan in pain when she felt her bones gritting together as the demon layed down on her. Repressing the magicks that were threatening to get out, she closed her eyes as the Kleck demon's sharp teeth approched her neck.

"We can do this the fast way, or I can let my boys play with you a few hours, I personnaly don't care."

For the first time since the attack, Willow took the time to actually get a good look at "his boys". If their leader was ghastly, it was the least to say she did NOT want these...things get ahold of her. They were not that big, maybe six feet tall, but their talons and teeth alone Were enough to officially send the wicca in total panick mode. Their hornes seemed too big for their heads, and had some kind of...stuff stuck to them. 'I so do not want to know what it is', wonders Willow with a shudder.

Another back-handed slap put her back in the moment, and realise 'it' was talking to her again.

"After all, continued the demon, it is just justice since you took away their favorite toy..." The demon leaned even more on the witch now, making it almost impossible for her to breathe. He slowly traced a mark along her neck deep enough to draw blood.

With a whimper, she reluctantly opened her eyes, but got confused when the demon backed off a little before grinning at her with all his razor-sharp teeth.

"Finally! Come close boys, the witch is almost ready to play now." Then, smiling wickedly at the now shaking Willow: "Did someone ever told you were way prettier than Rack's?"


	4. Chapter 4

The punk wannabe vampire went down hard against the tombstone, but jumped back on his feet quickly. Not fast enough though, his boney features showing his surprise as a sharp stake went right through his heart.

'Bloody amateur'. Bendin over to replace the fallen flowers, Spike resumed his walk in the Restfield cemetary. Word from the underground was that a pack of demons were on their way, and Spike wanted to catch them before they could do too much damage. 'More that I'm bored out of my bloody mind', he thought, but hey, if he happened to cross them...

Spike went suddenly still , a chill crawling up his spine. Closing his eyes, he tried to feel his surroundings. Sighing slightly when whatever he felt seemed to be gone, the vampire turned around, guessing Buffy should be over at the park right about now.

He only had made a few steps when a painfully high pitch scream followed stopped him abruptly in his tracks. Spike started running towards the attack, excitedly cracking his knuckles.

His senses were indicating him the presence of demons, but something was odd. He would have been supposed to be aware of them even before the scream had occured, considering the short distance separating him from the street. Only a few breeds of demons could roam around without getting noticed, and those weren't the best ones to encounter, even for the slayer.

His thoughts were interrupted when a guttural growl echoed in the air, only to be brusquely stopped when the cemetary's west area was illuminated in a deep red glow for a few seconds before going back to black.

The chill rushed back to Spike with an dreadful apprehension as a second scream filled the air. The now magick-tainted air made him fear the worst as he covered the remaining ground.

The sight startled him so he didn't even saw the Kraskyen demon coming full speed at him before it sent both of them crashing down hard. Promptly pissed, Spike took advantage of having fallen on the demon to place several hard punches on its face, before breaking one of its horn and stab him in the heart with it.

Not even taking the time to admire his work, the vampire quickly got back on his feet to take a full look at the carnage: another Kraskyen demon was more than obviously dead a few feet away to his right, smoke still coming out of its almost completely burned corpse. A third one was crawling pathetically towards a broken tombstone, trying to escape from his attacker. Spike closed the distance in three short seconds and hastily broke the demon's neck before turning a much more disturbing view.

One last demon was still standing and Spike knew instantly he was the leader of the pack. Evidently hurt but however still in enough good posture to fight, what frightened Spike was the small body kneeling not five feet away from the demon.

Willow looked terrible and ready to collapse. She was shaking badly, was covered in blood (which by the smell revealed was mostly hers) and the vampire's hearing could tell him her breathing and heartbeat was rapidly becoming erratic.

What unnerved Spike the most was the witch's dead look her eyes had. They were pitch black, with deep red lines swirling in them. She was desperately trying to keep her protection shield up, but the vampire knew she was only holding on sheer nerves.

Not wasting a second, Spike Grabbed a piece of a broken tombstone and threw it at the demon's head as hard as he could. The stone litteraly exploded Under the force of the impact, along with the demon's head. The vampire jumped over the headless corpse as it fell on the ground, rushing to the redhead as she crumpled as well.

«Red?» Spike kneeled quickly by her side, and gingerly put a hand on her shoulder. He cursed as he didn't receive any response, and cautiously turned her over on her back. He frowned and cursed louldy as he took in the damages the demons caused. He swiftly took off his coat and his shirt, and began tearing the shirt apart in pieces so to attempt to stop the bleeding emaning from the deep gashes on the witch's side.

«Red! Willow, come on pet! You've gotta stay awake now! Come on, I know you can do it, just try open your eyes okay?»

Putting one last piece of fabric around the girl's throat, Spike put a cool hand under Willow's bloody shirt in an attempt to wake her up. He sighed in relief at the faint gasp he caught from the witch.

«Will? Pet, you gotta wake up, I need to take you to the hospital before something else pick up the smell and gets his ass over here to finish you up.» Spike took his duster and carefully wrapped Willow's slender body in it to keep her warm.

«Sss-spike?» Spike winced hard at the sound of Willow's voice. «Shhh, don't talk, just try to keep your eyes open for me okay? Come on now, I'm gonna have to get you up so we can be on our way, we won't be alone for long.» Last thing Spike wanted was for Willow to go into shock, so he had to get them going, and soon.

«Nn-no-» Willow's attempt to talk was cut short as Spike put his arms cautiously under her back and legs and started lifting her up.

Whimpering against the sudden burning feeling spreading up and down her back, the redhead bit hard her lower lip in an effort to keep herself from screaming. Spike watched, concerned, as Willow struggled to stay alert under the agonizing pain. She kept her eyes closed shut, but couldn't keep a couple of tears from falling along her cheeks.

Spike wasn't even out of sight from the cemetary when the girl's raspy voice made herself heard again. « No hospital.» The vampire almost dropped her and stared at her down as if she had suddenly grown a second head.

«What! You've got to be out of your bloody mind if you think I'm taking you home to the slayer looking like that!» Spike regretted the harsh tone of his voice when he saw the witch flinch, and not just from the physical pain. «Sorry Willow, but you really need to see a doctor, there's only so much Buffy can do you know. Besides she'll have my head in the dust pan if I take you home looking like this, and she'll take you to the hospital herself, so better do it now rather than have her yell at both of us, huh?»

The vampire scolded himself at his lame attempt at humor. Walking faster, he lowered his voice, trying to sound as casual but comforting at the same time. «It'll be okay Willow, I promess you.»

Gritting her teeth through the pain and dizaines caused by the magicks she used, Willow opened her eyes again, gazing at Spike above her. «Wow. I-it must be bad if you keep calling me Willow.»

Peeking briefly at her, Spike noticed with relief that her eyes, still dark but shining with tears, weren't black anymore. With a light tone he didn't know he could fake so well, he started to tell her about wanting to try something different when he caught her confused yet stern look.

« Sorry pet, but the calling you Red bit doesn't really works since your hair ain't, you know, quite red at the moment.»


	5. Chapter 5

Foot steps approached fast where Spike was sitting, but went right past him and resumed their way along the hospital's waiting room corridor. The cacophony present in the ICU floor was rapidly driving him crazy, and the pacing woman that had been crossing his path for the last hour was not helping.

He practically growled when he saw her coming for the fortieth time. Unable to stand it anymore, he abruptly stood to block the passage and seized her by the shoulders.

«Buffy! Enough! You're driving everyone crazy!»

The blonde looked sharply at him before freeing herself from his grip, but surprising him by going over to the sitting area and slumped in a chair.

«It's been forever Spike, I need- I just need to know that she's okay. I want to see her but they won't let us in, and I can't reach Xander and GOD I'm begging you keep your coat closed!»

Spike cast down and promptly zipped his duster. «Sorry».

Buffy put her head down on her knees and let out a weary sigh. Willow had been in surgery for almost two hours already, and no one had came to at least gave them an idea on how bad it was. She only knew what Spike told them when she and Dawn arrived at the hospital.

The vampire actually had to repeat everything twice since she hadn't heard a word he said the first time. She kept seeing him getting up to meet them, and how her stomach violently lurched when she saw his t-shirt. Dawn had thankfully missed it, being busy keeping her sister from fainting. If she was used to see large amount of blood by now, that much human blood still made her queasy. And specifically in this case, knowing it was Willow's blood...

So she spent her time pacing, trying to reach Xander, and deliberately avoiding looking at Spike. She still didn't understand how it could've had happen. Xander always picked up the redhead on Tuesdays.

He is _so _gonna have some serious 'splaining to do when she'd get her hands on him.

From the little informations Spike got from Willow on their way to the hospital, Xander had call her to say he coudn't make it tonight. She kept drifting in and out of consciousness, so Spike was more concerned about getting her in safety rather than making her talk.

Buffy had thanked him several times already, she didn't even want to think what could have happened if he hadn't been around when her best friend was attacked. She felt so horrible. She should have been there. She usually always started her patrol with Restfield cemetary, why did she had to pick tonight to hit another one accross town first?

«Buffy?»

The slayer lifted her head to glance at her sister through slightly red eyes, before settling her sight on the coffee in Dawn's hand. She accepted it gratefully and took a big sip as the teenager sat by her side.

«Did you call Giles?»

Buffy stared at her cup, clearly avoiding her sister. «No. I was waiting to have more news to tell him, but it looks like we're never going to have any, so no ».

Dawn rolled her eyes, annoyed by her sister's attitude. «You have to call him, so he know, what if-

«What if what?! »

Buffy stood up abruptly, startling Dawn and Spike. «You want me to call him and say what, 'hey Giles, it's Buffy. How are you? Great, everything is great, oh yeah, except for Willow who's got attack tonight! No, sorry, I don't know how bad is it, or if she's gonna make it, but hey, go to work and don't worry, I'll call you back when I get some news! Bye!'

«Buffy...»

«No! I'm sick of waiting, of not knowing, and I already have to deal with my 'what if's', I can't deal with Giles's too. I'll call him, but I can't right now.»

Dawn got up and tentatively took her sister's hand, and smiled when she let her lead her back to their seats. She gently wrapped an arm around her sister's shoulders and gave them a little squeeze. «She's gonna be okay. She's strong, you'll see...what 'what if's are we talking about ?».

Buffy ran a nervous hand in her hair while staring at the ceiling. « It's just...I don't know, it's like everytime things start to get better, something happens and screw everything up».

«She was finally starting to get better Dawn. She's been home for over two months, and she wast just begining talking again. I mean really talking, not just ' hey dinner's ready' or 'I'll be back late tonight', I could see her old self coming back, my best friend was finally starting to come back to me, and to us, but now...»

Dawn shot a concerned look at her sister and held her even tighter as she saw a tear running down her cheek. «But what?»

Buffy let out a shaky breath and fixed her blue eyes on her sister's brown ones. «I'm...I'm scared she's gonna want to leave. I'm scared that if I call Giles, and he comes, she's going to ask him to go back in England with him, and never come back.»

Frantic footsteps coming their way kept Dawn from replying to Buffy. The slayer practically jumped off her seat, half-hoping and half-dreading on who was about to enter the waiting room.

Two of them let out a breath they didn't even know they were holding when a young and quasi hysterical woman came in.

«Is she okay? You were all cryptic in your message, you tell me to come but you didn't say why!»

«Anya,-»

«I mean, when you leave a message, have at least the curtesy to say exactly the reason for which you called, don't just go and drop 'Willow in the hospital, please come', you also need to give an idea of what she suffers of, because if if's a broken leg, okay I'll come but if it's a broken finger, well-»

«Anya!» Spike yelled, and sighed dramatically when she finally stopped pacing and talking.

«Um, I'm sorry, may I interrup? Miss Summers?»

All turned at the new comer or, as her badge said, Dr. Wilkinson.


	6. Chapter 6

*Thanks for the reviews, it's always appreciated! I know the next few chapters will stay in kinda tight time frame, but I didn't feel like jump and skip weeks from now just yet. Don't worry though, the story will keep rolling!

********

Buffy stared absently at the window. She could see the faint glow of the sunrise through the closed blinds. She rubbed her sleepy eyes hard and blinked a few times, exerting herself to stay awake. She leaned back in the incomfortable recliner the nurse brought in for her, her sight drifting once again on her best friend lying on the hospital bed next to her.

The doctor totally freaked her out when she patiently listed all of Willow's injuries. Buffy keeped enumering them in her head while scrutinizing every scrape, every bruise that wasn't bandaged, and they were way too many of them to her own like. '_two broken ribs, one cracked, a badly sprained wrist, long and deep gashes along her friend's right side, covering from the back of her shoulder almost to her belly button. And that is without even counting all the bad bruising and the concussion'. _

Willow was as pale as a ghost, and the crisp light blue hospital gown she was dressed in did nothing to improve her complexion. But what had the blonde really freaking about when she entered the room was to see the bandage partially covering her best friend's throat.

'No wonder Will and Xander always looked freaked when I'm the one being hurt. It's like being in a horror movie, without the good scary parts.' Mused sadly Buffy.

Part of the slayer wanted more than anything to go and hunt down whatever was responsible for nearly killing her friend, but then she would remember how Willow and Spike already took care of them.

Buffy warily leaned her head on the bed, her hand resting beside Willow's, gently stroking the fingers coming out of the brace maintaining the injured limb in place.

The only consolation right now for Buffy was that her friend was sound asleep. She much rather think that instead of her being 'sedated'. The young woman took comfort in the redhead steady breathing, even if they were still a little hollow. At least she wasn't in much pain, for now.

'Poor Will, broken ribs is pretty much what sucks the most, maybe except for the whole back thing. Buffy couldn't help softly snicker at that. The doctor had no idea how come Willow managed in her attack to not have gotten her back injured (well besides the contusions and all) or broken, or how she avoided any significant internal bleeding.

Dr. Wilkinson obviously knew better than to extrapolate, considering she already had to treat Buffy several years ago, but the gang exchanged a knowing glance. 'For once, I'm glad she had her magicks to help her out', thought a morose Buffy.

The beeping of the machines were constantly lulling her to sleep, but she refused to. Not until Will woke up. So instead she lazily rose her eyes to face her friend's battered features.

Her left side was swollen and bruised from where the demon had hit her, but it wasn't what Buffy was the most interested in. She was more focused on the deep-red hue the witch's hair were arboring right now, as opposed to her usual bright blond-reddish color. 'I'm glad it saved her, but it is probable because of it she was attacked in the first place' remembered the slayer, not without a certain bitterness.

Her first reaction when Spike had told her about the hair-changing color thing was to barge into the ER to see for herself, because frankly, she did not believe him. Because if it was true, it would have been bad, so bad...But the vampire firmly grabbed her by the shoulders and spoke calmly, telling her it had already starting to fade back to red on their way to the hospital.

Buffy had trouble grasping what Spike had been saying, flashes of dark, veiny Willow spiraling in her mind. She honestly didn't think she would have the strength to do through everything all over again if the redhead would come to the point of losing it once again.

She guessed that was why she kept chanting 'she's still her, I didn't lose her' like a mantra for the past two hours. Pretty much ever since she first came into Willow's room after Anya and Spike took Dawn home.

She felt guilty for letting Dawn calling Giles, but she insisted so much that she wanted to help that she quickly caved in. 'It was the only reason to get her to go home anyway, that and after I gave her money to go buy a few more loose fitting tops for Will, and new pj's.' Now at least the redhead would have comfortable clothes to put on when she gets home.

The young woman affectionately brushed a few strands of hair from her friend's feverish forehead, and noticed pleasantly how they were still getting paler by the minute.

«It is gonna be lots of fun to explain this in the morning, Will. Because I'm not sure the 'it's a new highlight technique' is going to work», mumbled Buffy, mildly amused.

The slayer's blue eyes suddenly sparkled and she smiled warmly when she felt Willow weakly stirring.

«Hey.»

Emerald eyes blinked drowsily, obviously struggling to fight the sedatives effect to focus on the figure at her side.

She managed a feeble «hey», before wincing at the pain and at the rough sound of her voice.

«Shhhh, don't talk.», Buffy whispered. Instantly noticing Willow's labored breathing, the slayer leaned in close until they were forehead to forehead, her hand resting calmly on the redhead's waist. «I know it hurts, but It's okay, you just have to take slow breaths. I'm gonna help you do that, okay? Just try to concentrate on that and nothing else. Ready?»

Willow blinked once and closed her eyes, not willing to let the tears that were threatening to fall escape. «I know it's going to sound weird, but you're gonna try to adjust your breathing to the movement of my hand. You know, breathe in when my hand goes up, and breathe out when it goes down. Got it?»

Buffy could have swear she saw a tiny bit of annoyance in the girl's eyes when she snapped them open, which made her quietly chuckle.

The slayer looked down incertainly, frowning at her friend's injured arm. Changing her mind, she carefully brushed the witch's belly. «Does it hurt when I do that?»

Willow licked her parched lips and glanced at her friend through glassy eyes. «No.»

«Good. So you just focus and follow, okay?» Buffy continued the motion, cautious to apply just enough pressure so Willow could feel it. She barely moved her hand a few inches up before waiting and go back down again. Soon the redhead became more relaxed, her breathing matching exactly Buffy's hand.

Buffy let out an exhausted sigh, taking in her friend's now slumbering form. It was only a matter of minutes before she finally let herself go to sleep, her head still resting against Willow.

Neither of them ever noticed the presence of a young man outside the door, watching the whole thing through red-rimmed eyes. He turned around and after a second of hesitation, went out the door and left.


	7. Chapter 7

An irritating beeping sound is finally what managed to wake Willow. She tried to reach her alarm-clock to turn it off when a sharp pain running from her hand to the rest of her body kept her from moving any further.

Without even trying to open her eyes, awareness slowly replaced the fog in her head as she recognised the annoying beeping.

'Hospital. And from the overwhelming feeling of having been through twenty rounds with Buffy, I'm the one who's lying on the really _not _comfy bed.'

A frown clouded the redhead face as she thought at what could have happened to get her into so much pain.

The confusion didn't last long as the last night events all rushed back to her. She snapped her eyes open in a desperate attempt to get rid of the horrid images swirling in her mind.

Willow took in her surroundings as the blur slowly faded. The room was dimly lit, thanks of the closed curtains. She could hear the oh too familiar background sounds of nurses walking around and doctors being called on speakers.

She blocked them out though as she prefered to focus on something much more interesting.

Just a few inches away was a slightly snoring blonde, obviously unaware of the redhead newly conscious state. Willow relaxed and stilled, not wanting to wake up her best friend.

The witch was surprised to see Buffy sleeping beside her. She was glad, thankful even to not be alone, but curious nonetheless on what strings the slayer must have had to pull to be able to stay all night.

Comforted by her best friends presence, Willow closed her eyes and was almost back to sleep when she caught the sound of the opening door, followed by not so subtle footsteps coming in.

She reluctantly forced herself to blink so she could see the new comers, and couldn't help but grin as she observed Dawn and Anya try to shush each other out. The smile was a bad idea though as her bruised cheek started to hurt.

Her light wincing sound was surprisingly loud enough to interrupt the two girls, but not enough to wake the slayer. 'Huh, she can hear a vamp miles away but can't even hear what's in front of her. Creepy.' thought Willow with a little smile.

"Willow! You're awake!"

'Yep, that outta do it though' as she watched, deeply amused, the slayer jumped two feet high when Dawn loudly shrieked.

Buffy looked frantically from Willow to her sister and Anya before go back to Willow.

"Had a nice nap?" The redhead snickered softly, then tried to do her best pouting impression. "You drooled on my pillow!"

Buffy's eyes bulged open. "I so did not! I was- " Her tirade stopped short when she saw the tiny sparkle in the witch's green eyes. She scoffed, then stood up to stretch her sore body.

Dawn took her sister's place fast and was about to lean down to hug Willow when she remembered what the doctor had said. The witch did not looked as worst as she thought, but knew that it didn't mean anything.

Sensing her hesitation, Willow grin softly at her. "Just don't squeeze too hard, and I'll be fine, okay?" Dawn happily obliged and wrapped an arm around the redhead shoulders for a few seconds before sitting on the chair.

"Hey Anya."

"Hi Willow. How are you? Dawn and I went shopping this morning before coming here, and since it's tradition to give presents to the ill and dying, we brought you flowers, oh! and balloons!" The ex-demon excitedly pointed towards a big bouquet of bright color balloons.

"What?!?"

The strickened look on the witch's face was lost on Anya, but not on the Summers girls.

"Anya! You are not dying, that's just Anya being...Anya", Buffy said as she sat on her friend's bed and took her good hand.

"Oh. Yes, I'm sorry, I didn't mean the 'ill and dying' as you being you of them. You, of course, are gonna be fine. You're all broken, but we'll help you get better. There, is that better?" Anya said cheerfully while putting the flowers on the night stand.

Buffy and Dawn exchanged a bored glance, except for Willow, who looked more confused than anything else. She was feeling a little dizzy, her head still hadn't stop pounding and her throat was hurting bad.

Buffy noticed Willow's discomfort and how her green eyes were turning glassy. She shushed the other two, who had the decence of looking ashamed before turning back to the redhead.

"Do you want me to go get the nurse?" Buffy frowned at her friend's refusal, but finally caught on as she saw her making her face when she swallowed for the enieth time since she woke up.

"Would you like some water?"

The blonde blushed at the eager nod from her friend, feeling guilty for not have thought about it before. She quickly got up and was about to go out when Dawn called out to her, taking a bottle of water out of her bag.

She took it thankfully and sat by Willow's left side. She was about to open the bottle when she noted the witch blushing and looking down at her lap.

"What's wrong? Erm, I mean, you know, beside...", stammered ackwardly Buffy.

Willow looked up, clearly avoiding Dawn and Anya's faces. "I just, I don't think I can hold the bottle", shyly mumbled the girl.

The slayer smiled sweetly at her and scooted even closer. "Kinda already know, but I think I can help with that."

She let Willow take the bottle but kept a subtle hold on it as well and helped her take a few sips before taking it back and putting it down. «Sorry, but I don't think it's good for you to have too much too fast", explained Buffy with a contrite smile after seeing the redhead starting to pout.

"Your friend is right, it's not."

All turned to face Dr. Wilkinson in the doorway. "I see you're already awake, that's good. "

"Good enough to go home?" Willow asked, using a hopeful tone that did not come out as she wished, her throat being still sore and scratchy.

The woman laughed loudly, eyeing carefully her patient. "You are kidding I hope?" The girls tried their best to hide their smile as they saw Willow's resolve face appear on the girl bruised features.

The staring contest went on for about two minutes before the woman let out an annoyed sigh. "I am not promising anything. I need to look at you before I make any decisions, and do not get your hopes up, young lady. Injuries sush as yours normally requires several days of hospitalisation, and you are no different."

No one had missed the look between the slayer and the witch as the doctor said the words.

"Huh.»

Buffy took a glimpse at the doctor at her sudden exclamation. She observe the woman as she cocked her head slightly, gazing down hard at Willow. Buffy waited intently for the woman to realize what was wrong. 'And 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...' counted Buffy in her head. At exactly one, Dr. Wilkinson's mouth opened, baffled.

"Um. I must've seen wrong last night but, I could have swear you had much darker hair. Weird."

Willow's eyes met Buffy's. The blonde could see the fright in her friend's eyes, but she couldn't explain it to her right now. So she gave her a look that she hoped meant they were going to talk later, and flashed a bright smile to the doctor. "Well you must have seen wrong, 'cause Will always been a redhead. See?" she ran a hand gently through her friend's bright red locks. "Red hair. It's a new technique, with highlights and everything, makes you see different shades, it's almost as if your hair color could change by itself!" The slayer laughed a little nervously.

Dr. Wilkinson stared suspiciously at Buffy, and the blonde let out a relieved sigh when the doctor shook her head, deciding to just drop the subject.

"I'm sorry, but I'll need some time alone with my patient, I will tell you when you can come back in."

Dawn stood up, still a little shocked but mostly disheartened. "But, we didn't have time to talk yet because of Anya stupid yammering on ill and dying and-"

"Hey!"

"Enough!" Buffy scowled at her sister and at the ex-demon. "Would you stop? God you're like five years old who didn't get their afternoon nap!" She leaned closer to Willow and kissed her softly on the cheek. "We'll be back as soon as she's finished, okay?"

The petite blonde then ushed the whining girls out the door and followed them out, but not before a brief glance above her shoulder. The doctor was already talking to Willow, so she closed the door quietly behind her.

Buffy took a detour to the restroom to freshen up before going back to the waiting room. She was expecting to find her sister, Anya and probably a few other patients and visitors.

She entered the room distractly, her mind so focused on what needed to be done at home before Willow was released she never saw the figure standing right in the middle of the room.

Buffy bumped hard into him. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't-Xander?!?"

Xander glanced nervously at her ex-girlfriend and her best-friend's sister before facing

The slayer with apprehension.

"Hey Buff..."


	8. Chapter 8

Dawn peered worriedly at her sister and Xander from the relative security of her chair. The two young adults had been yelling at each other for several minutes already, and it marveled the teenager that they still had not been thrown out of the hospital yet.

It didn't take long for the slayer to recover from the surprise of seing the boy though to start venting. Even Anya knew better than try to interfere between the two, so now they were left watching the quarrel, hoping Dr. Wilkinson would come back soon to end it all.

'Oh, looks like they're done!' concluded the girl with a weary sigh. Now if they could just stop the scowlding contest, maybe they could apologize to each other ('and to us for embarrassing us'!).

"Well that's good guys, now-", announced Dawn, eager to change the subject.

"Come on Buffy, you know I would never hurt her, how can you-"

Buffy snorted loudly at the man in front of her. "Yeah, well that's nice Xander! Maybe you should tell Will that, even if she might have some trouble believing that right now!"

"I said I was sorry!" Xander practically screamed, startling a young nurse passing by. He glanced sheepishly at her before going back to the blonde.

"Will's a big girl, she kept saying that she was better, that she could handle herself."

"She's getting sick at us constantly hovering over her and watching her every move, Buffy". Xander explained as calmly as he could.

But the slayer refused to budge. "So you thought that leaving her walking back home by herself at night was a great way to show her how much you trusted her?"

Xander was rapidly loosing patience. "How many times do I have to repeat this, she insisted! How could I know she'd lie and decided to walk home instead of asking to someone else like she said she would?!?"

"Are you blind?!?" Buffy's tone made Xander wince and take a step back.

"When are you going to get it, Xander? You thought what, that she would get mad, or plead with you to get you to give her the ride you were supposed to ? Wake up Xand!"

Buffy closed her eyes briefly and counted to ten. When she regained somewhat her composure, she looked back at her friend and Xander could see, past the anger that still lingered in her blue eyes, a sadness that wasn't there before.

"We were so wrong Xander. We were all like 'she's dealing, she's fine' because what, she gets up every morning? Because she went back to shool less than two weeks after coming back from England?"

«We kept giving her space. Thinking she would come around and talk to us if she needed to. Did she go to you? And if she did, did you actually took the time to even try to listen?"

Buffy knew she was being harsh, but she needed to make her friend realise that, for once, she wasn't the only one to blame.

"She never would have told you to cancel your, your _date_ for her. Want to know why?" Buffy all but spat the word as she leaned closer to her friend.

"Because she thinks she's not worth it".

Xander gaped at her, shocked. "What? That's ridiculous, Will knows that-"

"She _used_ to know." Buffy rubbed her eyes tiredly before leaning against the wall, defeated. The slayer went on observing her feet, avoiding everyone's stare.

"She's so scared we're gonna tell her she's not wanted here, that we can't trust her anymore, that's what making her sick". The petite blonde finally lifted her head, meeting Xander's guilty look.

Xander slumped on the couch, and considered what Buffy had just said.

He never thought, even for a minute that something could have happened to his oldest friend when he left last night, simply because Willow was always so cautious, and obviously had to know better than go out by herself at night.

Part of him wanted to get back at Buffy for not being there either, but the carpenter could tell she was feeling even worse than him about the attack.

His thoughts were cut short when the already familiar steps of Dr. Wilkinson preceded her arrival. There was a certain nervousness about her that was not there when they left her in Willow's room earlier. Buffy stopped her pacing to watch her before blushing violently and hung her head low.

Xander laid eyes on Buffy, then on Anya and Dawn before staring at the doctor. A huge weigh fell on his shoulders as the reason of the woman's ackwardness sank in.

"She heard us, hasn't she?" Xander's voice was hushed and ashamed.

Dr. Wilkinson sympathetic faint smile confirmed the dreadful question. "Not much, just loud voices mostly, but she recognised them as yours so yes, she knows both of you were fighting."

"I'm sorry, but I will not release her this morning, so maybe all of you should go home and get some rest, okay?"

Surprinsingly, Anya was the first to voice her discontent. "So you're going to force her to stay here because of those two-pigheaded over there? I'll take her back to my place if you want, it's been years since I've played nurse. I miss it."

Buffy and Dawn loud "No!" forced the woman to raise her hands in an attempt to get everyone to shut up. "I was only kidding, calm down!"

"Well actually I really won't be releasing her this morning, I'd like for her to stay for the day, then you will be able to take her home. If my guess is right you will be the one taking care of her and tending to her?" Dr. Wilkinson asked at Buffy. At the blonde nodding, the woman smiled warmly at her. "Okay, I'll need you to come with me so I can fill you in what you will have to do."

Buffy instantly went to her side, waiting impatiently. "Dawn, do you think you could get Will's room ready, and I'll help you out when I get home?"

Dawn trotted to her sister's, smiling happily. "Of course, I've kinda already started, but I'll have time to finish before you guys get there. Oh, and it will give me time to call back Giles, I told him I'd call him when I'd get back."

The slayer sweetly hugged her sister. "Thanks."

Xander approached uncertainly the doctor, avoiding ackwardly Buffy's gaze. "Do you think I could go and see her?

There was a few uncomfortable seconds before the woman looked apologetically at Xander.

"I'm sorry, young man, but miss Rosenberg does not wish to see you at the moment."


	9. Chapter 9

Thanks for the reviews, don't be afraid to keep them coming! Luckily I'm having a pretty mellow semester at college, which gives me the chance to update weekly. There aren't any real spoilers yet, it'll be more in the next chapters I think. ** Warning for some language, nothing much but just to be sure.

***************

The sweet aroma of vegetable soup, coffee and the sound of pages being flipped has filled the first floor of the Summers's house for the last few hours.

Dawn was sprawled on the living room couch, with her feet on the coffee table. With a bored sigh she zapped blindingly through the cable channels once again, frustrated as she couldn't find anything to watch.

Finally giving up, she dropped the tv remote carelessly on the table, but wince when the clunking sound echoed through the room.

She was getting restless. The teenager had been running around the house since yesterday morning. After the big blow out at the hospital, Xander gave his keys to Anya and promptly left. Buffy called out to him, but he refused to stay.

The young man tried to hide it, but Dawn could see the tears in his eyes when the doctor said he his best friend didn't want to see him.

Buffy had left with the doctor, and when she called a few hours later, asking Dawn if it was okay if she stayed with Will, Anya had offered to keep Dawn company to help her out, which lasted until Willow was released late last night.

Dawn was getting tired of just sitting there, doing nothing. She was so bored she was almost missing school. Almost. Buffy was out buying more bandages and stuff, and Willow was sleeping in her room, knocked out by the pain killers Dr. Wilkinson gave her.

Dawn just wished Xander would call. She tried to reach him a few times earlier today, but Buffy said there was no point, that he was so stubborn that there was no way he would answer his phone. 'He's stubborn? Gosh, there were ALL so pig-headed, no wonder they were best friends.'

The teenager jumped excitedly when the phone rang in the kitchen. 'Please let it be Xander...oh! Or Janice!' Dawn wished as she hurrily picked up the phone before it could wake up the redhead upstairs. "Hello?"

"Hey Dawnie!"

"Buffy, hi! Where are you? Are you coming back soon?"

Buffy's voice went from light to concerned in a blink of an eye. "Why? Is everything okay? Did something happened to Will?"

"Hum, no, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, I was just bored you know, I've already did all the house chores, there's nothing on tv, and did I mentionned the being bored part?"

The slayer rolled her eyes but chuckled at her sister's whining. "Relax, I'll be there soon, I just have one more stop to make. Everything's fine?"

"Yes, Will is still sleeping, oh and Giles called, he'd like you to call him back when you get home."

"Good, I'll be there as soon as I can, okay? Bye."

Buffy hung up, and looked up towards her last stop. 'Here we go...' She braced herself as she walked to Xander's construction site.

Xander was having one of his worst days ever. Two of his crew guys were almost crushed when a support beam fell down, another two called in sick, and a delivery truck broke down meaning he wouldn't get his material today.

He really should have stayed home, but not working meant remembering the attack, the fight, and morevoer, hearing over and over again in his head having been told his best friend did not want to see him.

So, work it was, even if he had to run around like a headless chicken to make sure everything was progressing as scheduled.

The guys had started to leave, and Xander had just yell at a couple of them for taking off their helmets while still on the site when a well-noun voice made herself heard.

"Wow. That was kinda harsh Xand."

"Yeah well they might be idiots at times, but it doesn't mean it's okay for me to let them take risks like losing their heads if a nail gun misfire." The carpenter mumbled, not even bothering to turn around to face his friend.

Not even checking if she was following, Xander made his way to his office, hoping she would just leave.

"So your big, manly crew is important enough for you to do whatever to protect them, but for your best friend it's 'hey you're on your own Will', is that it?" The blonde said before she could stop herself. 'Great start Buffy, piss him off, that will help to get the talking thing going'.

Xander turned around sharply to glare at the slayer. "So that's your mighty plan, track me down to yell some more?"

"No. Listen I'm sorry Xand, I didn't come her to fight, I wanted to talk-"

"We already talked, remember? Or I tried while you were resisting ripping my head off. I did not planned for any of this to happen, I said I was sorry! She's my best friend, has been for the last fifteen years, why makes you think I'd want her to suffer?!?"

The young man looked directly into the blonde's blue eyes, determined to keep his ground.

Buffy observed carefully her friend, until realisation hit her like a ton of bricks. Xander fought to stay still even though the slayer gaze was making him uncomfortable.

"It's not only that, is it? I mean yeah, she got hurt, but that not it. What bothered you the most was the fact that it made you realized she was still doing magicks."

Buffy knew she was dead-on as she witnessed Xander flinched.

"Because even though that's what saved her, you would have prefered if she had completely stopped, isn't it? You know it doesn't work that way Xander, I realise it now, we were so out of line when we kept wanting her to give it up." Buffy tried to explain.

The young man faced his best friend, his fists clenching angrily. "What good has it done really, Buffy? Sure, it helped, but we were so happy to have the magicks to help us, to help you out that no one ever noticed how it was destroying her until after she, she-"

"Until she brought me back." Buffy's voice was barely above a whisper. She glanced at Xander, a grim smile on her face. 'At least he's not pissed anymore, just crabby. Almost an improvement', she thought.

"Get over it Xander. I'm finally over it, and I honestly can say now that I'm glad to be back. And If I need to talk about it, it will be with Will first if you don't mind."

Seeing that Xander was in no mood to talk anymore, Buffy sighed tiredly and stared in the distance, admiring the approaching sunset and hoping she could find a way to speak her mind without upsetting Xander even more than he already was.

"She's still pretty upset about yesterday, don't take it personally okay? I know it must be hard, but you have to understand Xand, give her some time and she will come around, you'll see."

Xander laughed bitterly. "Oh yeah. It's real hard to believe, coming from the girl who's been with her every minute since it happened. I've only seen her like ten seconds that night, but I was too scared to come in. And now I don't even know how she is, I can't even tell her how sorry I am because I'm not allowed to see her! You think that's fair?"

The carpenter winced and stepped back when the slayer angrily closed in on him.

"Fair?!? What exactly is 'fair', Xander? That I'm the one allowed to see her? She's also annoyed with me because I yelled at you, but we live together and I'm the one who's taking care of her, so she doesn't really have a choice here!"

The carpenter recoiled when he realised how incredibly mad the slayer still was. "Look Buff, I-"

"You think it's unfair to you? Well, Xander, you must be right! I mean, you're here, working, kicking you guys's asses around..." Buffy rose her hands in the air as she snapped.

"Let me ask you a question about fairness, Xander. Do you think that's fair that our best friend is in bed at home, hardly able to walk because freaking demons wanted her to be their new toy! You think it's fair that it had taken me over two hours last night just to change her bandages, because I couldn't help but stop everytime she winced, or cringed, or tried to shrink away from me because of the pain? Tell me how that's fair!" Buffy's voice slightly broke as shouted. 'Okay, I didn't keep my cool, but at least I didn't exactly scream, that's always that.'

Xander was at a loss, he had no idea what respond to that. He forced himself to raise his eyes to his friend, relaxing somewhat when all trace of fury was gone from Buffy.

They looked back at each other for several seconds, until both of them broke the silence.

"I'm sorry."

Buffy smiled at him sadly. It didn't take more for Xander to reach out and hug tightly his friend. It was brief though as Buffy's cellphone rang loudly, startling the two. "I really have to get back, but try to call tonight and we'll talk, okay?. But don't think everything is fine. I am still mad at you.." She admitted after seeing the house's number on the small screen.

"I'm on my way Dawn, I don't care of you're bored, just go do something, like the dishes!" The blonde barked on the phone, annoyed.

"Only in your bloody dreams, slayer."

"Spike? What are you doing home?" Buffy felt her hair on her neck rise at the unexpected presence of the vampire at her place.

"We got a problem. One demon's body is missing."


	10. Chapter 10

It was night again when Willow woke up. The drapes were drawn, but she could see a faint light coming from the lights outside. She had been awake for about fifteen minutes now, judging by the clock on the night stand.

Horrid images of scaly-greyish skin leaning close on her, the nauseating breath of the demon as he bent down to bit her and the sick excited growling sounds they were all making were dangerously overwhelming her when a loud thud brusquely woke her up.

Willow seriously thought she was still in the park when she tried to breathe, but found her rib cage too tight to let any oxygen in. That and the darkness sent her to near hyperventilation until she could keep her eyes open long enough to recognize her room.

She was able to calm down after several long minutes, but she still felt shaky and queasy. If the physical pain from the injuries were painful enough, what distressed her the most was that she could still feel the...whatever what kind of demon it was, she could still feel them in her.

The painful and violating feeling of their dark magicks crushing her as it tried force itself inside of her before retracting violently, in a vicious attempt to make her lose control over her own magicks.

The control techniques the Coven had taught her didn't last long as survival instinct kicked in. Or, more accurately, as the Scooby instinct kicked in.

She still wasn't sure how she managed it, but she was able to keep herself alert enough to observe the leader closely, awaiting for any sign of weakness.

As any 'big bad' full of itself, he was way over self confident. So as soon as the demon's attention decreased, Willow latched out.

The rest was still really fuzzy to her, she could barely remember Spike rescuing her, or the hospital. Only the clear sensation of trying to being drained against her will. The redhead shuddered at certain not too distant memories. 'Ugh. So _not_ going there tonight...'

More commotion could be heard downstairs, giving Willow a welcoming distraction. She slowly succeded in push herself somewhat up against the headboard after a few false starts, ponctuated by colorful words she was glad the others didn't get to hear.

Bracing herself and ignoring the spinning walls, she carefully moved her legs out of the bed.

***************

"I'm not sure this is a good idea," said Xander as he watched Buffy going through her chest of weapons. Fishing out a double-edged battle axe, the slayer pulled another knife and a couple of stakes before closing it shut.

"It'll go faster if we're together Xander. And Giles said it wasn't good that one was still out there. It'll more likely try to form another pack and start hunting again. And I want to finish it myself, make him pay for what he did to her." Buffy mumbled the last part, but they all knew what she had said.

Xander and Anya were sitting on the couch, with Dawn in the middle. They look admiratively at Buffy and Spike's gear: axes, a broad sword and possible a lot of other pointy things in the slayer's duffle bag.

Dawn was glancing anxiously at her sister, as if sensing her sullen mood."Maybe we should find more about those demons before you go out and kill it in case, you know, it kills you instead?" the teenager finished in some kind of a squeaky voice.

She saw Buffy hesitate as she put on her jacket, and observing her attentively before coming to her to sit on the coffee table, facing her.

"Dawn, I can't just sit here and wait. They're hunters, that's why we have to find it before it decides to track down Will."

Buffy smiled confidently at her sister and took her hand. "I'll be carefully, promise. And worse case scenario, I'll use Spike as a decoy, so it'll be okay."

The slayer ignored the offended "hey!" from the vampire as she slid a stake up her leather jackets sleeve.

"You guys don't mind staying until we get back, right?" Buffy asked the former demon and her best friend.

Xander looked longingly at the ceiling, wanting more than anything to run upstairs. "Nah. Better be here than at my place anyway. And I promise I'll stay downstairs. Happy?" The carpenter added begrudgingly.

"Yes Buffy, you go out and kill the nasty evil creature, we will be happy to play games with Dawn. And, I can take your turn changing Willow's bandages if you'd like, I did it multiple times in the past, I'm quite good at it."

Buffy stared bemused at Anya. "Hum. I- well, thanks Anya, but it won't be necessary. I'll do it when I get back, so all you guys need to do is just check on her once in a while, make sure everything's fine. Okay?

"Speaking of the wicca, maybe you should go before we leave. Sounds like she's awake." Spike remarked.

Buffy briefly looked up at the ceiling and nodded. 'Why do we always look up like that? It's stupid, there's nothing to see! Well, unless you have x-ray vision or really bored teenagers in the house...' mused the blonde as she got up and quickly went upstairs.

"Hum. Did anyone else notice the odd look Buffy gave me just now?" Queried Dawn.

***************

The slayer walked more quietly as she neared her friend's room, but frowned when she noted the open door.

Buffy closed the distance in a heartbeat, freezing when the redhead was nowhere in sight. The table lamp was turned on, clearing the possibility of the witch having fallen off the bed.

The young woman spun around and was on her way to her own bedroom just as she saw the bathroom's closed door. Knowing it was open last time she was on this floor, Buffy softly knocked.

"Will?" Without even waiting for an answer, the small blonde opened the door and turned on the light.

To her surprise (and relief), the witch was sitting on the closed lid of the toilet, looking pale and drawn. Buffy rushed to her side, and kneeled beside her. "Willow, are you okay? You shouldn't be out of bed!"

"My blatter had other plans." explained the redhead, squinting her eyes agains the harsh light to look at her friend. "I was just about to go back anyway."

"Uh-huh. Of course." Buffy put her hand on her friend's forehead, then cup her good cheek, looking for any trace of fever. She didn't know if she should be amused or upset at Willow little escapade.

"You know you could've had fall and hurt yourself, don't you?" 'Okay, guess I'm leaning towards the upset part after all.' "Come on, let's put you back to bed."

Mindful of not apply to much pressure on the redhead ribcage, Buffy carefully scooted her up in her arms, and saying she was surprised as she received no resistance from the witch was an understatement.

"You sure you're okay?" Insisted Buffy as she put Willow down on her bed before standing by the bed. "I'll go get your pills."

"You mean beside not being able to go back and forth to the bathroom by myself? Yeah, peachy really. And I don't want any pills."

Willow regretted the sarcasm as soon as she said it, but was relieved when her best friend didn't seemed to have mind. She knew the slayer was too busy reading out her body language, registering every little wince and sharp intake of breath. Noting the slayer's oufit, Willow seized the opportunity to take Buffy's attention away from her. "You're out to patrol?"

"Um, yeah. You're in pain Will, you really should take something." The slight edge in Buffy's voice pushed Willow's green tired eyes to meet warm but serious blue ones. "I don't care, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong is that I hate to see you in pain is all." Buffy admitted after taking a seat next to the redhead. "I'm just gonna do a quick round with Spike and I'll be back, so they see me out there, but I can stay if you want, it's no big."

Buffy was becoming uncomfortable by the blank stare her friend was giving her. She could almost see the wheels spinning in the redhead's head, but she was just hoping she wasn't trying so take a read her thoughts, otherwise Willow would know right away how she was lying to her about tonight's real whereabouts.

Buffy rose her hand and moved it up and down before her friend's face. Willow's eyes suddenly were back on her again.

"Sorry Buffy." The blonde frowned at Willow's strenuous efforts to stay focused. "Could you do me a favor? There is a small red velvet box in my dresser's second drawer, could you get it for me?"

Buffy sent her a slightly confused glance but got up, easily found the little box and brought it back to its owner, only to have it pushed back in her direction.

"Look inside, there should be a golden chain in it, with a medallion shaped like a small tree somewhere."

Definitely interested, Buffy perused through a few cristals and rings, a familiar tingling sensation at peeking inside the box. The familiar tingling was soon replaced by a pang to the heart as she realised the jewelry inside the box belonged to Tara.

A peek at the redhead, who was fixating intently on anything but Buffy and the box confirmed her suspicions. She finally put her hand on the chain, took it and put the box behind her.

"Will?"

Althought the redhead eyes glistened with tears, not one escaped as she looked briefly to Buffy. "It's blessed, and-and it has a strong protection spell on it. I made it specifically for her, but I'm pretty sure it'll work on you too. I want you to wear it tonight."

Buffy was speechless. As she observed it more closely, she distingued the tree to be actually a small willow tree. Her voice was thick with emotion as she talked. "Will, I can't, I mean-"

"I want you to have it. It is no use to...to Tara anymore, so please?

At her friend's insistance, Buffy delicately put the chain around her neck, and inhaled sharply as she felt her skin softly tickle. She glimpsed curiously at the witch, who managed to crack a smile at the amazed look of the slayer. "Guess it still works."

Stroking the pendant lightly, Buffy leaned in and hugged her friend as hard as she could without risking hurting her. "Thanks."

The slayer reluctantly released Willow, but not before giving her a kiss on the forehead. "You sure about the meds?"

Buffy sighed in frustration at the witch's stubborn nod. "Fine. But you are taking them when I get back."

***************

Dawn was the only one still awake at the summer's house. Buffy and Spike had been gone for over two hours already, and she hoped they had been more successful than her.

This demon research was getting extremely frustrating. Xander and Anya were snoring on the couch, and none of the books she skimmed so far taught her anything about those 'cracker' demons, as Buffy called them, because she was going to 'crack' his skull open when she had her hand on him.

The teenager was hoping Giles would call soon with something to go on. Meanwhile, all they got was what Spike had told them.

They agreed not to bother Willow with details that soon, but Dawn knew it was becoming inevitable. 'Speaking of the wicca, maybe I should go check on her.'

Sluggishly dragging her feet to the staircase, Dawn freezed as all of a sudden a low humming echoed in the house. 'What the hell?'

She waited a few seconds, half-expecting to hear, no, _feel_ the sound. 'Feel it? That can't be good.' She took a step for the window when the phone ringing sent her jump two feet in the air. She ran in the kitchen to answer it.

"Buffy?" she breathed nervously.

"Dawn? Are you okay?"

The girl let out a strained sigh. "Giles, hi. Yeah I'm fine, I just felt something creepy in the house, or outside, I'm not sure yet."

Giles's voice was immediately concerned. "What did you sense?"

"I don't know, it was like, like you know the sensation when you stand too close to the stage during a concert, and you feel the vibrations coming off the speakers, kinda like a sound wave?"

"Erm, yes I do. Listen Dawn, does Buffy felt it too?

"No, she's still out, why? Giles? Hello?" Dawn was quickly growing anxious at her almost father's silence.

"Dawn. Listen to me carefully. Call Buffy, tell her to get home. I'm afraid what I said about the demon forming another pack was wrong. Perhaps these demons can, on certain occasions, create a, a bond with their victim, which allow them to track them down from whenever they are as long as the human is alive. Dawn, Buffy told me one of them had bitten Willow, if it's the one still alive..."

But Dawn wasn't listening to Giles's ramblings anymore. She held the phone at arm's lentgh as the echo reverbareted again in the house, stronger this time.

It was hard enough to wake up Anya, who yelled 'earthquake!' before jumping off the couch and send Xander down hard on the floor.

The teenager tuned out the ex-couple's irritating squabble as she closed the remaining distance to the window, and took an apprehensive glance outside.

At just about ten feet from the house stood a majorly pissed off Kraskyen demon, green electric sparkles escaping from its talons.

"Crap."


	11. Chapter 11

Dawn shrieked and dropped on the floor as the demon lunged himself at the door. Xander ran to her and pulled her in the living room as Anya walked to the window, a curious expression on her face. "Anya! What the hell are you doing!"

But Dawn had already understood. She joined the ex-demon at the window to take a peek at a now very enraged demon. "Huh. He's not coming in."

"He _can't _come in." stated a surprised but pleased Anya.

"What? Hum, Dawn? The phone is screaming your name, just so you know."

"Oops!" They all flinched as another ripple of energy made the house shudder. "Giles! It's here!" Dawn shouted in the phone, calming down the englishman's now frantic voice.

"Xander, call Buffy!" The carpenter nodded and pulled out his cellphone, dialing the familiar number quickly.

"It's here, but it can't come in. What the hell is going on?!?"

"Willow." Giles and Anya answered in unison.

"She must have warded the house. Now Dawn, I need you to call your sister, tell her to come back, there's no way to tell how long the shield will hold. Considering the condition Willow's in, I doubt it' ll keep the demon at bay very long." Giles pointed out. "And I'm worried about the effects the attack must have on her right now, she-"

"Giles? Hello?" Dawn repeated in vain until she realised the phone line was dead.

"The phone is dead. Willow shielded the house, I'll go stay with her, make sure she's okay until Buffy gets back. You stay down here and keep an eye on the creep outside!" The teenager ordered as she ran up the stairs.

The sight that welcomed her entering the redhead's stopped her abruptly in her tracks. The witch was flushed, covered in sweat and was shaking badly.

Dawn rushed to her side. She sit next to her and put a hand on her shoulder but recoiled fast. The redhead was burning up. "Willow?"

"It won't... last long...bastard keep throwing... his magicks against it." Willow rasped out, moaning in pain and closing her eyes shut tight as another ripple on energy shook not only the house, but the witch as well.

"Oh my god it's hurting you?!?" Dawn shrieked. "ANYA!"

Dawn leaned closer on the bed, mindful of not to touch Willow. "Buffy and Spike are on their way, drop the ward Will, they'll be here any second, really."

Willow only shook lightly her head as Anya barged into the room, battle axe in hand.

"What?!?"

She cursed loudly when she took in what was going on. "She linked the warding spell to herself. Clever, but also really stupid, Willow!" Anya admonished the redhead, but still winced in sympathy at the young woman's condition.

"She needs to drop the shield now."

"But Buffy isn't here yet! We can't defend ourselves against that monster with just an axe and a sword!" Whined the ex-demon.

"Its hurting her!" Dawn got up and pushed Anya toward the door. "Find something, anything to hold him off!"

Willow let out an agonizing scream and her back arched up from the bed when the house quavered harshly, sending Anya and Dawn to the floor. "Willow!"

Both women raced to her side as she slumped bonelessly on the bed. Dawn ran a frantic hand on her neck, desperate to find a pulse. She could have jumped up and down on the bed in happiness when she finally felt a faint heartbeat under her touch.

Her relief only lasted for about five seconds before Anya tossed the axe on the bed, a slightly freaked look on her face. "The ward is down. Keep the axe, I'll go help Xander not die. You stay here with her."

With that Anya dashed out the room, closing the door shut. The teenager quickly went to open the door and started pushing a dresser, a desk and the armchair out of the room, hoping it would keep the demon away for more than two seconds. Then she went back in the room, grabbed the axe and put it at arm's length so she could sease it rapidly if she needed to.

She sat back on the bed and softly shook the redhead's shoulder, dread washing over the teenager's features as Willow stayed unresponsive.

***************

Xander literally felt the breach rip the magical shield apart. If the impact nearly sent him to the floor, Willow's piercing scream twisted his insides in such a way he thought he was going to be sick.

'Screw this.' The carpenter had a foot on the first step when Anya almost tumbled down the stairs in her hurry to come down. "The shield is down!"

Bracing himself, Xander gave Anya his sword and ran to the weapons chest, quickly settling for a mace. But he didn't even had time to turn around that the Kraskyen demon tore the door down, a murderous look inhabiting his glowing green orbits.

Then everything happened very fast. Xander managed to throw his mace to the demon's head in a way it would've made the slayer proud. Except the mace hit the demon's arm instead of the head. Inadvertedly drawing the attention on himself and no longer sporting a weapon, Xander reverted to plan B: he throw everything within his reach at the demon. The vase and the books only pissed the creature off even more, but the coffee table somewhat slowed him down. Somewhat. The greyish demon closed in on Xander, ready for the kill.

"Hey! You big, ugly, smelly demon!" Anya shouted before she rammed her sword through the Kraskyen's back.

The beast roared in pain and fury. It turned around and viciously shot an energy bolt at the former demon, sending her to crash onto the wall.

"Anya!" Xander expertly scanned the room, hoping to come accross anything that could be use as a weapon. 'Jack pot.' The young man dove for cover as the demon came back his way, and succesfully caught the broken table leg a few feet away. Without a second of hesitation Xander shoved as hard as he could the sturdy piece of wood through the demon's wound.

The air became electrified as the Kraskyen demon started to irradiate a deep green glow, with greenish fire coming out of its sharp talons. It raised its claw to unleash his power when its eyes bulged out of their sockets, and the blade of a broad sword suddenly transperced its heart from behind.

"I specifically told you I wanted to be the one to finish it, and yet there you are, having all the fun!" Buffy scolded before removing her sword from the now dead beast with a sickening wet and squeashy sound.

Xander took gratefully the slayer's hand and stood up. He quickly joined Spike at Anya's side, who was leaning against the wall and rubbing her head, muttering about lazy vampire and slayer.

"Bloody hell. Forgot how messy those demons are. It'll be quite the party to clean it up."

Buffy, Xander and Anya all groaned at Spike's statement. "You guys okay?" The slayer inquired. I so don't want to clean up this mess. Spike?" Whined Buffy.

"Not bloody likely... Okay, fine! I'll drag it in the yard, and that's it...Bollocks! Okay fine, Harris you're with me on this, go grab the garbage bags."

Xander glowered at the vampire. "No way, you didn't finish the job in the first place, you take care of it!"

"Maybe I was more concerned about saving Red than making sure they were all dead. Looked dead to me, I didn't hang out to chat, you..."

"Willow!"

Everyone stared at Anya as she bursted out the witch's name. "Buffy, she's sick, she had a shielding spell on the house to keep the demon from coming in, but it was hurting her, and-"

Anya couldn't even end her explanation that Buffy was already climbing the stairs three at the time.


	12. Chapter 12

"but it was hurting her and..."

Buffy tuned out what Anya was saying. She had the feeling she shouldn't go out, but she really thought she could find it, with the help of her slayer perception and Spike's ability to track down the creature's scent.

There hadn't been one soulless creature all night, so Buffy even had the time to go pay Willy a little visit. The surprise of the night turned to be a young corean vampire in the bar who mentionned having heard about them, without having seeing one in the flesh though.

"They love to spend hours playing with their victims. They drain them from their magicks before forcing it back in until it breaks them. After that, well they can do whatever they want to do to them, because their prey is too weakened to even try to fight back."

"They never let their prey go until their done with them, nothing can stop them from achieving their goal. Well, except you, it seems." He casually explained with a pointed look at Spike, not without a certain curiosity.

Buffy all but ran out of the bar, and kept her poised demeanor right until they were outside. She froze exactly six steps from the door, and almost got knocked over when a greenish funny-looking demon walked out a few moments later.

'There's nothing like being hit in the back by a gross demon to snap out of it, though.' Buffy thought, making a face while unsuccessfully trying to wipe green slime off her jacket.

That and learning that your best friend might have been victim of...of...the slayer shot a distressed look at Spike before she darted toward home. 'No, it's not the same. They were using magicks, it can't be the same.'

Buffy did her best to block the horrifying images away. She couldn't bear the idea of Willow...Her cell phone rang at that moment.

"It's here, but it can't come in. Not sure why, must be Will. Hurry back." Was all she heard before Xander hung up.

The slayer was so lost in her thoughts as she jump up the stairs that she didn't noticed the dresser and other furniture blocking the hallway. She roughly collided in it and tumbled back on Xander and Spike that were close behind.

"What the...Dawn!"

***************

Dawn did her best to ignore the crashing sounds from downstairs. She hoped that Spike and her sister would be there soon, and that Xander would be able to handle the demon without getting hurt. Meanwhile, she was way too freaked out to even think about what she would do if it managed to get to her.

'Saying that i'm scared right now would be an understatement.' Dawn was really trying to keep it together, but she was seriously starting to panick. Nothing she did could rouse Willow, and her symptoms didn't make any sense.

She was definitely burning up, but whenever Dawn touched the redhead's clammy skin, it would feel icy cold before turning really hot a second later. The shakes had stopped but Willow's breathing was labored and would sometimes get slightly irregular.

Giving up any pretense of calmness, Dawn shatched her own cell phone out of her pocket to call Giles. 'He spent the whole summer with her, he'll know what to do, more than me or Buffy even.'

Willow might have tried to hide it last year, but Dawn knew Willow had gone through withdrawals after their not so funny adventure at Rack's. The teenager had been looking for her sister a couple of nights after the car accident, and she had found her in the witch's room, watching over her as the redhead was sweating and shaking in bed.

Buffy helped her back to bed and explained to her how the withdrawals were making Willow sick. Dawn hadn't dare question or pass judgement on the situation, because right at the moment she was about to bitterly state that the witch had it coming for being so stupid and reckless, she had remarked a flicker of concern in her sister's blue eyes.

Seeing Buffy actually expressing any emotion would happen ever so rarely then that she changed her mind and kept quiet. But she was pretty sure that Willow was going through that again, hence the call to Giles.

Dawn yelped at the sudden commotion charging up the stairs. She grasped the axe with all her strentgh, only to drop it and run to the door when a highly-annoyed "Dawn!" echoed in the hall.

She was half-way there when the door bursted open and let in an anxious-looking slayer.

"Buffy!"

"Dawn, you okay!?!" Buffy efficiently looked her sister over in search of any trace of harm, but froze once again at her sister's fear-stricken features. She peered over at the still form on the bed. Too still form. Fright twisted her insides as Dawn's expression sunk in. 'No...'

Buffy rushed over to Willow's side and numbness threatened to overwhelm her at the sight of her friend's condition.

" I can't wake her up, the warding hurt her and she screamed and collapsed and started convulsing, she stopped now but she won't wake up!"

The petite blonde ignored the raucous made by the others as they pushed the furniture out of the way and focused on her best friend. "Dawn, get the first aid kit, now!"

Buffy frowned when she took Willow's pulse. It was too fast but more especially too strong, it kinda felt like Buffy's after she's taken out a vampire...or three.

Dawn hurried back into the room carrying the too oftenly used emergency box. "Thanks. Now, Dawn I need you to go draw a cold bath, and put out towels too, okay?"

"How cold?"

"As cold as you can. And I also want you to go to my room. Check in my closet, in the black box on the top shelf. There's another black box in it. Bring it back. Now go!" Buffy ordered as she applied a temperature strip on the redhead's feverish forehead.

"Anya, could you go to the hallway closet and bring me the green blanket on the bottom shelf? Spike, could you go take care of the demon, Please?"

Both of them nodded after sharing a knowing look with the slayer, and Spike nudged Xander on the shoulder to follow him. "No, I'm staying with her." Xander affirmed.

"Come on mate, you'll be of better use downstairs for now. She has it under control."

"No! I-"

"Xander, please. Go with Spike, he'll tell you when you can come back." Buffy stated with an oddly blank voice as she stared at the temperature strip, barely turning around to adress him.

She rose as Anya came back with the thick blanket, and threw the strip on the garbage can. She leaned over Willow, carefully gathered her in her arms and lifted her up.

Apparently already knowing what to do, Anya quickly strip the bed from the damp sheets and blanket, fold the new one neatly in half and laid it down on the bed.

"I'll go put some towels in the water." Anya offered while Buffy was gently laying down Willow on the comforter. "Will?" Asked the slayer, shaking her shoulder lightly.

Not surprised at getting any sign of acknowledgement considering her friend's spiking fever, Buffy went automatically on more drastic measures. She undid a button of the redhead's pajama top to expose the ribcage area and rubbed her knuckles against the area with just enough pressure to force Willow to regain consciousness.

The redhead was soon beginning to stir, scrunching her face against the painful knuckle rubbing, just as Dawn and Anya got back, the latter holding a dripping washcloth in her hand. "Xander, go with Spike!" She instructed the carpenter, going to stand to the other side of the bed.

Xander was about to yell at them for trying to keep him away from his best friend when Dawn came in with a big bucket full of wet towels, and saw Buffy finishing to unbutton Willow's pajama top. Realisation dawned on him at what was going on.

Torn apart between not wanting to left his childhood friend alone but also not having any desire to see her go through what was coming, Xander finally gave in and followed Spike out of the room.

The teenager went over to Buffy and gave her the box. The slayer took it almost regretfully, and glared at it a few seconds before sighing heavily and open it. Dawn was the first one to react. "What the hell do you think you're going to do with that?!?"

She stared at her sister's hands as she took a syringe and a small vial of a clear liquid out of the box. Even Anya seemed shocked. "Oh my god, are you putting her down? You can't do that! She's not evil yet!"

"Shhh!" Hissed Buffy. She took a big breath and filled half the syringe with half the bottle's content, making sure there was no air left in it. "It's something the coven made specially for her. Giles sent it not too long after Will got back. He said it was most likely she would never have to use it, but it was in case something bad would happen to her, magick wise?"

"He said it would help her body cope better with withdrawals, and restrain her powers until she's good enough to ground her powers herself. And that it would numb the pain a little..." Buffy added, upset.

"But, are you at least aware that you're about to do to her what Giles-"

"I am very well aware of what I'm about to do Dawn, and this isn't the same! But thanks for the reminder!" Growled the slayer. She knew too well to what her sister was refering too.

'But it's not the same. I'm not betraying her, I'm helping her,' Buffy attempted to convince herself. Still...Dawn scowled angrily at both girls and stumped out the room.

***************

A wave of dizziness welcomed back Willow to the land of the living. Something had been pressing down hard on her ribs, and it hurt. It thankfully stopped when Willow tried in vain to recoil away from it. The hand went away, and something wet and cold was placed on her head to cover her eyes and forehead.

The cold was startling but somewhat helped calm down the nausea and pounding migraine that was raging behind her eyes. The rest of her body wasn't so lucky. It was screaming in pain, as if her whole nervous system was on fire.

Her mind was too blurry to even try to understand why it was hurting so much, but her body only took a second to refresh her memory. 'No'. Willow suddenly felt like crying and couldn't repress a faint moan. She did _not_ want to go through all that again, she honestly believed she just wouldn't support it.

Confusion added to her pain, because if her body remembered what was supposed to come next, everything else was giving off a different vibe. There wasn't the oppressing sensation she was used to feel in _that_ room, and she could hear low voices not far from her. Voices...familiar...Ugh...Buffy?

Relief washed over her when she recognized her best friend's voice. It only last a moment though as she felt delicate hands brushing her waist and slide her pants off of her.

"Shhh it's okay Will, it's just me." Said Buffy softly, taking the redhead's slender wrists in her hand to try to calm her down.

She felt and saw the redhead's body tensed at her touch, and at first she thought it was because Willow was in pain, but it became evident that something else much more important was wrong when the redhead started struggling against her. "Willow, sweetie, stop it. I need to break up the fever, it's already too high, stop fighting, please."

Buffy was growing alarmed by the resistance that was showing Willow. It wasn't as if they didn't tended each other's wounds before, and it was abnormal for the redhead to act like this, especially since Buffy had already spent hours doing it the night before.

The blonde sat down close to her and removed the cloth from her friend's face. "Will, you're sick, I have to take care of you, you know that. I'm not trying to hurt you."

Willow opened carefully her eyes, which widened when she noticed what Buffy was holding. "No...I swear...I didn't...do any...thing. I hate that...damn thing! Please Buffy...don't..." practically begged Willow with a fatigued voice, pulling shakily at her wrists to free them.

Buffy froze for the third time of the evening. Her mind was spinning, and her expression grew darker as she put the pieces together.

Willow's reaction when Buffy had joined her in the yard, nightmares the redhead sometimes had that didn't seemed to connect with her lover's death, Giles's little chat about some do's and don't's about Will, his advice about upsetting contact, the currently terrorized look in her best friend's eyes...what Willow had just said...

The slayer quickly put down the syringe, released her friend's wrists and started to softly stroke her arm as she tried to reassure her. "Willow, sweetheart, I swear to you, I'd never do anything against your will, but Giles said it would help you, and you look like you really need it. Would you rather have him and someone of the coven to teleport here? I'm sure they'd do it if it's what you want," Hesitated Buffy nervously.

"No, no, I...I don't know...I just..." babbled Willow with a broken voice.

Buffy couldn't endure this much longer. "Will, sweetie, you really need it, nothing's gonna happen, you're here with me, and Dawn, and, and Anya, and Xander and Spike." Buffy gently cupped Willow's chin so their eyes could meet. "You're not alone, not anymore. Never again."

Willow managed to read into her friend's warm eyes for a few seconds before another wave of pain and nausea hit her. Defeated, she closed her eyes and surrendered, giving Buffy the permission to proceed. Buffy ruefully took the syringe, and her shaking hand almost dropped it on the floor.

"Want me to do it?" Asked Anya, concern in her features. At Buffy's refusal, Anya gestured for the door and left, giving the two girls some privacy.

Buffy forced her hand to keep still, not wanting to mess up the shot. She placed her warm hand over the witch's thigh and, as kindly as she could, injected the fluid into Willow's body, doing her best to ignore the redhead's distress.

After she was done the blonde laid down next to her friend and pulled her close. The redhead was getting limper by the second, and it unnerved the slayer to see how fast the 'potion' was working.

Anya came back a few minutes after the injection, so Buffy steadily resumed her work by softly pulling Willow's top off of her, leaving her in her bra, panties and numerous bandages.

The slayer hated herself for doing this when the young witch clearly didn't want to. But the wet towels they were going to use in order to break her fever would work faster this way, and she didn't want Willow to stay in drenched clothing, which would end up by having to take her clothes off anyway.

"We'll put one under her", Buffy told Anya. The blonde murmured soothing things to Willow while gently turning her on her good side so Anya could place the first towel. The ex-demon quickly grabbed a dripping towel from the bucket, hardly wrung it and placed it on the bed and prepared another one as Willow was laid back down, over the towel.

The slayer winced as Willow flinched from the cold, but resumed her job nonetheless by placing one on the witch's torso and legs.

Anya left the room half an hour later to annonce the others Willow's improvement, as the latest temperature strip taken indicated that the fever was finally breaking. Only Xander and Dawn had come back briefly, Spike having to leave early because of the sun dawn quickly arriving, and still having to dispose of the body.

They were literally hushered back downstairs by Anya after a few minutes. Buffy was in awed before the ex-demon when she saw the way she managed Dawn's tantrum and Xander's brooding.

They continued for another twenty minutes until the fever was just below hundred, then gave the witch a chance to get some rest. They put back fresh covers on the bed, and Anya generously took everything back in the bathroom. She left the first aid kit at Buffy's request, since the redhead's bandages were damp and needed to be changed.

Anya suprised everyone by hugging them goodbye, and then forced Xander to leave with her, but only after Buffy had promised him he could come back and spend the next day with them.

'He doesn't deserve to be left out like that', decided Buffy. She'd deal with Willow about that later.

Buffy had just finished peeling off the last bandage from Willow's throat when a soft creak coming from the hallway made her pause. Expecting Dawn, her expression was showed complete surprise when she saw who was standing in the doorway.

"Angel?"

***************

Don't forget to R & R, it's always appreciated!


	13. Chapter 13

"Angel?"

Buffy stared at the dark vampire, her mouth wide-open. "What are you doing here?"

Angel entered slowly the room, uncertain. Buffy watched him, confused, until she caught his dismayed look. She slapped herself mentally as she swiftly covered the sleeping redhead with a sheet.

"How is she?" Inquired the vampire as he came closer to the bed. He was shocked by what he just saw, he never expected to see Willow looking so broken.

Buffy sighed, not exactly knowing what to say. "She's...I don't know, _wrecked _is the first word that come to mind, and yet..."

The blonde pointed to the chair, which he gratefully took and placed it near the bed before sitting down. "Sounds like a pretty accurate choice of word to me." Angel commented softly.

"Why are you here Angel?" Buffy insisted with a wary voice. A part of her was glad so see the vampire, but she wondered about his real motives.

"Giles called two or three nights ago, he talked to Wesley about some books on magick enclined demons he thought we might have."

"So I guess your presence means you did have those books."

"Dawn's going through them as we speak. He explained why maybe they could be useful for you, that something had happened to Willow." Angel paused, taking a moment to observe the inert young woman on the bed. "I didn't even know she was back from England. She came back about two months ago, Giles said?"

Buffy nodded tiredly. "Yeah. She spent almost four months in a quasi cloistered coven with witches who trained and taught her about all the rules and laws of wicca and witchcraft, among other things, before Giles forced her to come back to us so she could get attacked and almost killed twice in the two months she's been here."

"Oh." Was all Angel managed to say, taken aback by Buffy's acid tone. Giles had not mentionned how serious it was, just that Willow had been hurt and no one could find any valid information about the demons that had jumped her.

To tell the truth, the vampire had no idea what to expect when he decided to pay a little visit to the scooby gang. He thought he would run into Buffy during her patrol, and witness a broken-armed and slightly bruised Willow, but not this.

Everybody had changed so much since the last time he saw them. Dawn had grown up a lot and was now taller than her sister, which must be driving Buffy completely crazy.

Xander and his girlfriend, 'wait, ex-grilfriend' were nowhere around, and that was odd enough considering he and Willow had practically been attached to the hips for as long as he has known them, especially when one of them was hurt.

Buffy was kind of a mystery to him. He dreaded to face her again, fearing what she would look like, what she'd feel like...it broke his heart to see how dead her eyes looked last year.

Even though he was selfish enough to admit he was incredibly happy for her to be alive again, he was at the same time beyond pissed at the gang, more so Willow, for tearing her out of heaven.

But having seen the slayer again last summer brought him some welcomed peace of mind. She had come to the hotel unexpectedly after dropping her sister off at her father's. They talked for hours that day, about themselves and the gang, but especially about life, and Willow.

His soul wept for the redhead as he learned the tragedy that had striked in Sunnydale, but the tiny sparkle of life he observed in her ex lover's eyes that day gave him hope about Buffy and Willow's recoveries.

Seeing her now confirmed what he had been hoping for so long, to see his former girl full of life and truly alive again. Angel knew just by the brief look he took at Buffy when he came in the room that she was exhausted, physically and emotionally, but he also saw a much brighter sparkle in her soft blue eyes that proved him she really was back.

And Willow...seeing her like this was the very last thing he had expected. Last time they had seen each other was when the witch had come to LA to announce him Buffy's...and that was nearly a year and a half ago already.

She had changed a lot since then. Her hair was much longer and a little bit darker, she was thinner, and if the vampire could feel the power radiating from her when he stepped into the house, it was nothing as when he actually came in her room and sat close by. It was dark but with a sweeter tinge of purity and innocence.

He had never felt such a thing before and, frankly, it marveled him.

"I'm sorry."

Buffy looked up at him with surprise. "Why would you be sorry, you're not the one that keeps failing her. We are. _I_ am..." Angel saw the way his ex looked at Willow when she said it, the way her hand rested protectively on the witch's arm.

"You're not, you're just-"

"Don't, please. I really don't have the strentgh to have that kind of conversation tonight."

Angel glowered at Buffy when she yawned for the seventh time since he arrived. "When was the last time you slept, Buffy?"

The slayer frowned at his question. "Not sure, I guess when Will was at the hospital."

"So two days ago."

"Your point being?" Asked a clearly annoyed Buffy.

"You need to rest and sleep if you want to be able to help her get better. Right now the best thing you could do to help if something happened would be snore to death on them."

The vampire flinched under the murderous glared the slayer shot him. "Maybe I look like I might snore to death because the 'something'", hissed Buffy as she quote with her fingers Angel's previous phrase, "did happened before you got here!"

"Oh."

"Yeah, you say that a lot lately, huh?" Buffy teased, her mood not as angry anymore.

"Turned out one of the demons wasn't dead and was able to track her down. We killed it but..."

Angel suddenly recalled what Buffy had said before, and the way the redhead's body was bruised, slashed and swollen. "It attacked her again."

Buffy scoffed at his comment. "You mean what you saw when you came in? No, that was what happened when he actually had its claws on her." Explained the blonde darkly, unconsciously trailing a light finger over Willow's wounded throat.

"I was hunting him down with Spike when Xander called to say it was here, but couldn't come in. We rushed back home and killed it shortly after he finally broke through the protective ward Willow had placed on the house."

Angel glanced from the sleeping witch to the dead-tired slayer. "Well at least it didn't get to her again. I mean it was smart of her to have put one of those spells on the house, it saved her, and probably all of them."

Buffy smirked. "Yeah, But I don't think it was an old spell." She finally raised her head to meet Angel's puzzled gaze. "She was awake before I left, but she refused to take any more pain killers. I thought she was being totally stupid, but I didn't want to force her." 'So much for the not forcing her thing'.

"I knew she was in pain, I mean it was painful just to _look_ at her. But then she changed the subject, and she gave me a protective charm that belonged to Tara, so I let it go because I knew I wouldn't be gone long anyway. But," Confessed Buffy, "I think she knew it would be coming so she tapped on the pretty much non-existent strength she had left and she shielded the house."

Buffy's gaze went back to Willow's bruised delicate features. Her voice dropped but Angel could perfectly feel the anger emanating from it. "She waited for Spike and me to leave because it meant she would be alone long enough to make the spell work. Except that dummy here linked the shield to herself." The harshness of her tone contrasted with the gentle way she was smoothing the redhead's hair off her forehead.

"She knew it would be reckless and dangerous, and yet she still did it." Buffy stood up, not supporting to stay still any longer, and walked to the window. "That fucking spell almost killed her tonight Angel!"

Angel joined her and was relieved when Buffy didn't pushed him away this time. He took her in his arms and led her out of the bedroom, but she stilled stubbornly in the hallway, not wanting to go further. "Buffy. Not to rub it in your face, but I'm not surprised of what Willow did. That's what you guys do, remember?

"What?!?"

"If the situation was reversed, would you stay there not doing anything while your best friend risked her life, or would you do anything you can to do help, even though it's the stupidest thing you could ever do?"

"I...ugh!" Buffy grunted in frustration. She couldn't even argue with Angel's logic.

Buffy disentangled herself slowly from Angel. "I am still going to kill her when she's better. And I don't care how ridiculous it is but she will so be grounded for like a year, and she's also gonna drop that damn class!" The slayer ranted until she saw Angel struggling to suppress a laugh.

"You sound like your mother." The vampire gently remarked.

Buffy smiled grimly at his comment. "Guess I was. But I'm still gonna do it."

The blonde leaned on the wall and rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Yeah well meanwhile, you really should go to bed." Angel gently insisted.

Buffy ran a hand through her hair, freeing them from her poney tail. "I guess." She shrugged lazily while stiffling yet another yawn. "Are you going back to LA tonight?"

Both silently walked downstairs, careful to not awake the snoring teenager on the couch. "Yes, Cordelia and Fred are gonna kill me when they'll realise I came here without them."

Buffy opened the front door and they stepped outside, the young woman shuddering lightly against the night's cool air. "They are welcome to visit you know. Or maybe that Will and I could come down for a short visit when she's better. I think it would do us some good to get out a little, change of scenery and all that..."

Angel smiled at her warmly. "Even though she'll be grounded?" mocked the vampire. "Everybody would be happy to see you and Will. And I have a couple of extra books she might love. She still loves books?" He inquired uncertainly.

"Yep. Give her an old, dusty book written in some obscure ancient language and it'll be like Christmas to her. Well, Hannukah actually, but you get the point."

The vampire laughed at the slayer's babble. 'Guess it rubs off when you spend long enough time with a expert babbler like Willow'. He leaned in and brushed his lips softly on hers. "You'll call, let me know how she's doing? And if you need anything..."

"Thanks. And thanks again for the books Angel."

Buffy stayed on the porch as Angel got into his car up until he left. She then turned around slowly and came back Inside, not noticing a furious Spike hidden in the shadows accross the street.


	14. Chapter 14

Buffy jerked awake when her hand collided painfully against the night stand. "Ow!" The slayer opened her eyes, and cursed as she bright morning sun momentarily blinded her.

She buried her head in the soft, comfy pillow, secretly hoping the drapes would closed by themselves.

Having no such luck, the slayer peeked at the alarm clock with one half-opened eye. The other one peeled slowly open when she couldn't see the time. She blinked a few times before she realised there was a piece of paper scotched over the clock. Grunting, she stretched out and grap the paper.

'_I was bored, I went to school. Couldn't find anything in the books. Call Xander when you get up so he can come over. Talked to Giles, he knows. I also told him you were pissed at him. He's expecting your call. See you guys later. Dawn.'_

'Huh. Guess she's still mad at me.' Buffy's eyes widened when she could finally see what time it was. 'Xander's gonna kill me', she sighed as the clock read almost 10:30.

Sitting up, Buffy glanced at Willow beside her. The witch had moved during the night, and was now somewhat curled up on her good side, her back to Buffy.

The blonde observed her friend's partially bare back, and not for the first time, something on Willow's back was bugging her.

She noticed it the night before, but with the bruises and the swelling, Buffy had dismissed it. But now, as she stared more closely at it, Buffy could discern a thin pale line about six inches long that ran between the redhead's shoulder blades.

She trailed a finger softly along the line, struggling to remember what could've caused such a scar on her friend's back. Memories from last night came rushing back to her, Buffy decided she was sick of secrets and speculations. Giles was gonna have to talk to her, whether he wanted to or not.

***************

"What you're reading?"

Dawn looked up sharply and quickly covered the book she was reading, but relaxed when she saw Kit standing next to her. "Oh, hey Kit."

The young girl took a seat next to Dawn. "You weren't in class yesterday. You okay? You look tired."

The teenager ran a hand in her long chestnut hair and observed her surroundings. She'd chosen a place in the most quiet corner of the school library so she could read her demonology book without being perturbed. That or in case she 'd fall asleep.

Dawn slowly closed the book after one last glance at the paragraph she was reading. "My sister's best friend had an accident. I stayed home to help."

Kit's usually placid features saddened. "The redhead, Willow? Oh...I'm sorry. Is she okay?"

"Not really yet." Dawn grunted in frustration. "I'm trying to figure out what kind of demon it was, but it looks like a new species, because all I could find is like partial descriptions that fits more than one breed."

"You mean like if it would be a cross between two or more species, like dogs?"

"No. You see, demons, or at least normal ones, all hate each others. They stay with their kind. Forming alliances is rare enough, yet alone...coupling." Dawn finished with a disgusted shiver.

"Oh. Well maybe evil scientists like Frankenstein had fun messing with species then?" Kit joked. She bent down to fish something in her bag, completely missing Dawn's face go pale. "So, you wanna go eat outside or stay here with your dusty old book all day?"

"Hum. You know, I think I forgot to bring...something. I have to go. I'll see you on monday!" Dawn babbled before grabbing her stuff and run out of the library, leaving behind a bewildered Kit.

***************

Giles sighed heavily as he put the phone back on its cradle. The watcher sat at his desk, in his small cottage in Westbury. He had been expecting Buffy's call, dreaded it actually.

He knew he would have a lot of explaining to do, and it wasn't something he had wanted to do over the phone.

Frankly, it wasn't a subject he ever wanted to approach with her. But, the moment had come and, considering his slayer's reaction, it might have proved to be a good idea to be accross the ocean, where she couldn't kill him.

Part of him was deeply ashamed for what he had revealed to her, because he feared she would take it as a betrayal all over again. But, secretly, the rest of him was grateful of her emotional reaction.

It meant her epiphany last summer about being glad to be back was not just due to the tragedy that had stricked, she really was her Buffy again. Well, if she ever forgave him...

"_How! How could you let them do that to her! You said you were taking her with you so she could get help! Were you even there when...when they were experimenting on her?, or did you let her there, ALONE, to go through everything so you wouldn't be upset by whatever they were doing?!?"_

Her words still echoed in his mind, even though they were wrong. He did stay there, or at least at the beginning. But it soon became evident that Willow didn't want him with her when...those days were scheduled.

He thought it was because she held him responsible for those...days, but Mrs. Harkness told him one day that their newest charge felt distraught at his presence, and that it would be easier if he remained away during those periods.

"_I guess that's why you didn't want any of us visiting, huh? So we wouldn't know? I get why you didn't want to tell everything to everyone Giles, but you could've at least told me. I mean it would have made the whole 'she's not all physically healed yet' easier to deal with. Do you even have the slightest idea how much she scared the hell out of me last night? If I had known..."_

***************

Buffy was slumped on the lawn of her backyard, her back at the oak tree. She could feel a storm coming, but still didn't budge a muscle to move. Xander had arrived a little while ago and was probably in Willow's room.

Her phone call with Giles had left her drained and hurt. She knew by her watcher's ackward silence that he had no desire to talk with her about that, but after what happened last night, she didn't give him any choice. She almost regretted it now though.

"_They tried everything they could to extract her powers from her. She wasn't stable enough to control them, so they had to find a way to...do that for her, otherwise she would've had died." _

"_None of the binding spells, or purgings they could find were working. At first they wanted to perform the rituals while she was still going through withdrawals, so she wouldn't have the strentgh to block them out. But, it would always fail, she'd constantly find a crack, a loophole in their spells and she would deflect them. I don't think she was doing it on purpose, that it had more to do with survival instinct."_

"_Erm, in any case, one of the elders, decided it was enough. At a last attempt, she concocted a serum that would...tempered her. "It worked, but..."_

"_Giles?"_

"_The binding spell they performed, after they had administered the serum, it...it was too strong. They were expecting resistance, a struggle from her part. They had no way to know how much the serum, combined with the magick overload, the withdrawals and the previous binding spells, would be efficient. But she was so weakened after everything that...I swear to you Buffy, I'd never thought she was conscious enough to understand what was done to her._

Buffy got up and brushed the earth and grass off of her jeans. She needed to go and kill something, she needed to get rid of her anger before she'd snapped at someone she loved.

She had learned a few days ago about the existence of a vampire nest near the south border of the town, but didn't had the time to deal with it. 'Daytime be damned. They either get beat up to death by me, or get dusted by the sun outside, so it's a win-win situation for me.'

The slayer came back into the house and roam around the fridge's content in search of a light snack before leaving. She had finally settled on ice cream and was sitting face to a gigantic bowl of rocky road ice cream when Xander joined her.

"Hey."

"Hi, I thought you were with Will."

Xander walked to the counter and propped himself against it. "I was. I think she's starting to wake up. She was stirring a little, but she didn't respond when I talked to her. She really is mad at me, isn't she?" The young man added after a short pause.

Buffy looked at him with sternly. "Kinda, yes, but the not responding thing might be caused more by the sho- um, meds rather than her choice of ignoring you."

The blonde blushed under Xander's questionning stare, and wished he hadn't notice her almost slip. "What exactly happened last night, Buff?"

'Shit.' "You were there Xander, do I need to draw you a sketch?"

Xander glared at his best friend. "I'm not that stupid. You and Will seemed to have developped a new bond since she got back, and I feel like somehow, I'm not...I'm not part of it anymore." Xander confessed.

"Xand, that's ridiculous!" Buffy exclaimed. "You and Will had been friends forever. You guys will make it th rough. But... you need to realise something. About Willow, about me, and even about you."

"We were all forced to grow up, a lot and fast since we've known each other. And if you think back about me, or Willow, part of you feels like you don't even recognize us anymore. But people doesn't change as much as you'd think, Xander. And as long as you refuse to see it, your issues with Willow will remain. It's going good between us now because we had the whole summer to get close again, and talk, and maybe also because, on some level, I was already the slayer when you met me.

"What? What does it have to do with anything?" Xander looked at Buffy, incredulous.

"Just let me explain, okay? You are probably not even aware of it, but when you see me, or think about me, you automatically see me as the slayer. It's part of the package deal, you can't really dissociate one from the other, like a twinkie." Buffy crunched her nose at the not so complimenting comparison. But seeing Xander smile, she knew had had made her point clear.

"But with Willow, she was always Willow. She always was your best friend, one of the only person to understand and support you no matter what. But when she started dabbling with magicks, it's like she became someone else to you. You won't admit it but you know it's true. You weren't looking at her the same way, like if suddenly soneone else took the place of your childhood friend. Do you want to know why Will and I were so close in high school?

Buffy put her spoon down and leaned back in the chair. She exhaled slowly as she lost herself in the memories.

"Will never thought of me as the slayer first. I was just me. A girl, who thinks like a girl and likes to do girly things. I was _normal_, she was the only one that could actually see me for something else than the _Chosen One_. Just like I always thought of her as a freakishly smart, funny, beautiful and caring girl. Not as a nerd, or a loser or whatever insult Cordelia and the others would come up with."

"And even though my- our, best friend is now on the 'most powerful witches and warlocks in the world' top five list, she's still the sometimes painfully shy and insecure redhead who helped me every single day for the last six and a half years without never ask anything in return, except for my friendship."

"And," finished Buffy as she stood up and walked closer to Xander, "I wasn't even good enough to give it to her whenever she needed it the most."

"So now, I'm trying everything I can to make up for the crappy friend I've been for ever since I can remember. I want her to understand that I'm here for her, that I love for who she is, magicks or not. But she knows you have a problem with it, that you'd rather have the Willow she was before everything." The slayer gazed harshly at Xander. She was about to repeat something Giles had said but chose to keep quiet.

"As long as you can't accept her like she is now, this tension and distance between you two will continue to poison your relationship."

The young man sighed and glance carefully at his friend as he put his hands in his pockets. it. "I'll think about it. I'll _try_, I promise. I want to have my friend back, Buffy."

Both blue and Brown eyes locked together. "You just need to show her that you love her the way she is Xander and you'll see that you never lost her."

The peaceful moment between the two friends was shattered when Dawn came running in the house. "Buffy! We so have a problem..."

***************


	15. Chapter 15

A young man sped through the UC Sunnydale campus, his dufflebag clutched tightly to his chest. He turned west at the sight of the dorms, increasing his speed as he tried to reach the Lewitt house on time.

The footsteps behind was closing rapidly on him, becoming clearer in the deserted park surrounding the campus. In a futile attempt to stall his pursuer, the young man glanced above his shoulder and then threw the school bag, aiming it at the stalker's head.

Smirking at his brilliant decoy, the boy didn't bother to look behind, and missed his attacker swiftly catching the bag and thrusting it back toward him, catching him in the knees. He went down abruptly with a loud and surprisingly high-pitched shriek, any more chance to escape ruined as his pursuer walked casually up to him.

The young man gaped at his attacker, his eyes bulging open as he took in for the first time what had made him run for his life.

"Nice try, with the bag? But you should've thought it through. I mean, just how stupid are you?"

Buffy leaned and grabbed the boy by its collar, yanking him up harshly back on his feet.

"You know what I hate the most? It's bad enough I have to keep running around town to try and make people safe every night, I don't have time to deal with lame-ass jerks like you who thinks stealing stuff is cool and will get you a place in whatever lame-ass street gang."

"But you want to know what really pisses me off?" The slayer ignored the frightened look and the shaking shook of his head, and pushed him hard enough against a nearby tree to make him gasp in pain. "What really pisses me off is when you take other people's stuff when their back is turned because they're trying to help someone in distress."

With a murderous stare keeping the thief frozen against the tree, Buffy went to recover her bag before coming back to the boy. She dropped it at his feet, opened it and took a short broad sword out of it.

She could feel the fear irradiating from the boy when she put the blade's tip right over his chest. "See what you stole from me? Do you still think it was a good idea to take it from me?"

"N-no! I'm sorry, I swear! Please don't kill me!" begged the young man.

"Oh I'm sorry, you thought I was going to kill you?" Buffy lowered the sword. Then, before the boy even had the chance to see it coming, a slayer fist was knocking him out cold.

He slumped bonelessly on the grass as the small blonde heard a cracking sound to her left. She was about to turn back to him when she was pulled harshly on the side and tossed carelessly on the ground.

She barely had time to notice a stake being impaled in the young man's chest.

"Spike, no!" She yelled, but too late. She jumped back on her feet, furious, and walked to Spike, not even bothering to look at the former boy as he turned into a cloud of dust.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" She screamed. "He knew the Corean vampire guy I've been looking for!"

The bleached vampire raised his hands just in time to avoid the now mightily pissed slayer swing a deadly uppercut at him. "Would you calm the bloody hell down ?!? He was leading you on anyway."

Buffy exhaled slowly and took a step back, still glaring angrily at Spike. "How could you know that?"

"Because the vampire you're looking for is dead. I mean, dust in the wind dead." Spike quietly added. "Saw him go down last night."

Buffy stared at him for a second before looking up at the almost full moon in the late night sky. She still had her fists so tightly clanched her knuckles had turned white.

She inhaled sharply and went to recover her sword and threw it back in her bag with such force it went through the thick material. "Fuck!"

The vampire made a tsk-tsk sound with his tongue. "Such a language. You kissed your mother with that mouth?" The infuriated glare Buffy sent Spike almost made him regret his poor choice of words. Almost. But he was still mad himself about his sire's presence in Sunnydale a few days ago, and refused to let it go.

"What Peaches would say, his little perfect slayer swearing like that?"

"Shut up. Shut. The. Hell. Up. It was a good bye kiss, nothing more. He and I are done, just as you and me. And I swear to God if you don't leave right now I will kick your ass again. Seriously. You stole my kill, and I'm getting antsy." Buffy slowly stood back up, a stake in her hand. She was literally trembling with rage.

Conflicted emotions swirled wildly in her head and heart, going from hurt, pain, shame, distrust to pity, sympathy, affection...

The blonde took a tentative step toward Spike, raising her stake at the same time. She stopped two feet away from him, her eyes connecting with his. Her jaw was clenched so tight it hurt, she stood still for a moment, half-waiting for the vampire to make a move. If he could only made a tiny suspicious movement, she thought, maybe it would be easier to actually go for the kill?

'No one would blame me too much, particularly after what he tried to do to me...maybe Dawn? Nah, she'd be pissed, but...'

Spike was very well aware of the internal struggle going on in the slayer's mind. His smug look gradually left his face as he weighed his chances of actually getting dusted tonight. The vampire might still be resentful of his new reputation as 'slayer's pet' and such, a part of him was...content. A tiny, microscopic portion of his tortured and formerly twisted mind was almost grateful of being, although still not by choice sometimes, part of Buffy's life. It gave him something to hold on to, something to help him cope for all the atrocities he commited in his young days.

And, truthfully, he wasn't ready to let go just yet. But the glint in the slayer's eyes told him his time might be running short, so he blurted the first thing in his mind he hoped would get a positive reaction out of killing him. "Dawn will kill you if you do it."

Buffy cocked her head slightly and smiled grimly. "Probaby. But she'd get over it. She's still not too happy with you trying to rape her sister a few months ago."

The slayer suddenly plunged forward, but missed the vampire of a few millimeters when he ducked to his right. He let himself fall on his hands and swiped Buffy's legs from under her, sending her unceremoniously on the cold grass.

Spike quickly rolled away from her, the stake missing his unbeating heart by an inch. He jumped back on his feet as Buffy flipped back on hers, but he didn't let her time to recover fully. He hardly dodged the round kick aimed at his head and managed to get to her, punching her solidly on the cheek, making her stagger slightly.

"Red!" Spike mumbled before the beyond pissed young woman could lunge at him again. "How is she going to react, you thought about that?"

Spike knew he hit a nerve when he saw Buffy cringe at her friend's name. "What excuse are you going to give her? The other blokes won't even give a fuck as to why you killed me, but Red?"

"She doesn't even know, is she? I mean, it happened right before her bird died, and by the way she still hasn't killed me yet, I assume no one thought of telling her what I..."

Buffy stilled when Spike mentioned Willow. Images of her best friend flooded her mind, mostly from the last couple of days. 'He saved her', she forced herself to remember.

The monster in front of her tried to kill her, to kill all of them countless times, but...her latest bit of doubt was shattered as Spike spoke his last words.

"She's gonna find the truth. Someone wil tell her, most probably Harris. Whipped boy will be more than glad to tell the tale. And it won't work, you know it. Not now, not anymore."

"You'll lose her."

The slayer snapped her head back to the vampire, her eyes still clearly reflecting her murderous intent. But they now also showed something else. Fear. She blinked away tears of wrath and let out of loud frustrated growl as she threw the stake with all her strength at a tree more than a hundred feet away. A deep impacting sound echoed in the park as the piece of wood was impaled thoroughly into the tree trunk.

"I hate you!" She screamed. The young woman ran nervous hands on her face before slumping down directly on the ground next to her weapon bag.

Nothing would make Spike happier than to continue tormenting her, but he had the decency to stop, considering Buffy was edging close to a meltdown, just like Willow was when he went to see her earlier tonight.

With that in mind, the vampire cautiously closed the distance leading him to the slayer but stayed nonetheless at a relatively safe distance. "I didn't say that to piss you off, or to make you play the guilt trip. But you need to talk to her because she feels the same crappy way you bloody well do."

Buffy looked up sharply at him, disbelief evident on her face. "I went to see her tonight."

"Why?"

Spike scoffed. "Maybe because I wanted to see how she was doing, I haven't seen her since the attack. And since no one even thought to at least give me some updates, for all I know she could've died and no one would have bothered to tell me!"

"I went to see Red because she's the only one who ever showed me respect, and treated me like I was actually more than a worthless piece of shit . So the least I could do was to show her my respect as well, or is that too bloody too hard to believe?" He ranted, oblivious to the now ashamed slayer still sitting on the ground.

"She talked to you?" Spike stopped pacing and glanced at the woman he still loved, and frowned at the hurt sound of her voice.

"No. Well yeah, but if you mean did she talk about anything beside making small talk, then no." Sensing that the killing mood had fleet away and that it was now safe to come closer, Spike kneeled in front of his ex.

"I did most of the talking, asking her questions without never receiving more than a few words of response at a time, until she fell asleep on the couch. So I took her upstairs in her room and came here."

Buffy stared at Spike, confused. "What? You've been here for like half an hour, and it's now, almost one in the morning!" Exclaimed the slayer after seeing the time on her cell phone screen. "What was she even doing in the living room, she was supposed to stay in bed." Grumbled the blonde as she jumped back on her feet, suddenly annoyed.

The vampire took a step away from the slayer when he felt her tense at his too close presence and picked up her pace when she started walking toward home. "She was waiting for you."

Buffy rolled her eyes at Spike. "No she was not, she's still pissed at me. She won't talk to me." She mumbled darkly.

"So the nervous look at the time on her laptop every five minutes and her constant not so subtle glances through the window was just a fun hobby she picked up?"

The small blonde refused to believe the vampire's theory. "She must have been worried I'd caught her downstairs is all." Though a flicker of hope made itself know in Buffy's heart. 'Maybe she's done sulking and finally is willing to talk to me...'".

Spike sighed heavily. "Fine, whatever. Believe what you bloody well want, but if I were you I'd find a way to make her talk soon."

"Why?"

"'Because apparently Giles called and told Anya he would be arriving shortly."

"What?!?" The slayer bellowed, stopping dead in her tracks.

"Willow doesn't know about that part either, so..." With that Spike left a shocked Buffy on a corner a few blocks south of her house, before walking back to her. He shoved a hand in his right pocket and fished something delicate and shiny out of it.

He waited for Buffy to raise her hand, and gave her what looked to be a woman's bracelet.

The young woman looked down curiously at the piece of jewelry. It was small, delicate indeed and made from silver. And even though it was encrusted with blood, Buffy recognized the several small bright colored stones on it, each of them a different color.

"I found it where she was attacked, It must be hers since it's her blood on it. I thought you might want it back." Clarified Spike as he watched curiously the emotions flickered on the slayer's face.

Buffy stared at it in shock, then sniffed and wipe away a tear that had ran down her cheek before stuffing the bracelet carefully in her inside pocket of her jacket. "Thanks. I better go, it's getting late."

Spike watched the slayer go, her pace quick but calmer than before. He smiled softly as he headed back to his crypt, proud he decided to give the bracelet to Buffy instead of Willow.

***************

Buffy grew anxious as her house finally came into view. Right now, all she wanted to do was to take a long shower and sleep for at least twelve hours. Actually, all she'd like is to get home, and everything to be normal.

She didn't want to have to ask Anya to stay at her place during the day to keep an eye on Willow while she was at work, she didn't want Xander to be kept in the dark about their friends's stay in England but, moreover, she did not want her best friend to give her the cold shoulder. She realised now she shouldn't have yell at the redhead the other day, but her stubborness had just pissed Buffy off.

The tv was humming softly in the living room when Buffy entered. 'No fair I have to deal with a hurt and pouting witch, a left out friend, an ex-demon who wants to play doctor with Will and now I have to deal with Giles as well? Ugh.' Buffy rambled in her head, wondering nervously if she was going to be able to stay calm while Anya explained her surrogate father coming back in town.

Luckily, of thankfully, Anya was sound asleep on the couch, curled in a ball and a blanket wrapped around her. Clearly wanting to avoid a discussion at this time of night, Buffy stepped stealthily in the living room and turned off the tv to let Anya sleep, and crept silently upstairs.

The blonde put away her now ruined bag at the foot of her bed then went to check on the witch. She found her dead asleep, turned on her side with her injured wrist on a pillow nearby.

Buffy was relieved that her friend's injuries had started to heal up nicely. It had been four days since the attack now, and even though the bruises were still there, there weren't any swelling in her face anymore. Her side was still tender, but the young woman could at least spend part of the day hanging in the house, and she had an appointment the next day to remove the brace. She even had begun to catch up on school work, which was sent by her teachers every day.

With a sigh Buffy went over to the bed and pulled the covers back up on her friend, half hoping she would wake up. When she didn't after a few seconds, the slayer left quietly the room and headed to the bathroom.

An all-cleaned and now vanilla smelling slayer came into her room twenty minutes later, wearing star imprinted pajama pants and a dark blue tank top with an equally dark blue sweater vest.

She lazily picked up her dirty clothes on the bedroom floor, and left to throw them in the washing machine in the basement. Stopping by the kitchen for a late snack, it was almost 2:15 in the morning when, exhausted, Buffy came back to her room.

Not bothering to turn on the light, she had made it half way to her bed when she noticed the form on her bed. "Jeez Will! You scared the hell out of me!" The redhead was sitting on the bed, hands crossed on her lap, and was visible tense.

"You okay? I'm sorry I woke you up." She stammered before turning on the night lamp and taking a seat in front of her friend.

"You're hurt." Willow's eyes and voice were still thick with sleep. She glanced warily at the blonde's figure, taking in the fresh bruise. "I'm fine, it'll be gone by morning. Spike said you wanted to talk to me." 'Great Buffy, I didn't know how to approach the subject, so why don't do it Anya's way?'

She saw Willow flinched slightly, but apparently still wasn't going to talk, which was seriously beginning to exasperate Buffy. "You do know you actually have to open your mouth and pronounce words in order to talk, right?"

It was time for the slayer to flinch at the hurt look that flashed on the witch's face. She saw Willow hesitate for a second before getting up. "Never mind."

"Will, wait!" Buffy reacted instinctively and grabbed her friend's left wrist to keep her from bolting.

She realised it was a mistake the second her hand wrapped itself around the redhead slender wrist. Willow stiffed instantly and tugged her arm sharply away from the touch.

The slayer let go and jumped out of bed to to go after the Willow. She quickly went around her to block the bedroom door. "Willow I'm sorry, I didn't think. Please, just stay ok? It's fine if you don't want to talk. I mean, no it's not fine, but I won't push it, not tonight. Please?"

Not wanting her best friend to leave and sulk all night, Buffy resorted to using her best weapon. She looked at the redhead with the best puppy eyes she could muster. It really seemed like Willow was going to turn away and leave but, at the last second, the blonde saw a tiny corner of her mouth twitch as she rolled her eyes and slowly went back to sit on the bed. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Willow looked down and bit her lip, her left hand playing absently with her brace. "So, ready to get that thing off?" Asked Buffy, figuring small talk could help instead of jumping directly in dark, personal matters.

"Yeah. I can only type with one hand, and it's getting seriously annoying." Admitted the redhead. Silence fell in the room again, and the two friends curiously observed each other for a few seconds. "Did they do that often?"

Willow crunched her brows in confusion. "Who did what when?"

"Willow..." Buffy sighed, doing her best to stay patient. "Here, take this." She added before taking off her sweater vest. "You look cold."

Buffy was not willing to argue for an hour with her friend as to state if she was cold or not, so she leaned forward and helped her put it on. "Thanks."

Seeing how Willow had wrapped her arms around herself, proving she really was cold, Buffy got up and invited the redhead to do the same. Then she pulled the covers down and motionned for Willow to get in. "Come on Will, you're cold and I'm tired."

The witch gingerly came closer to the bed, but still made no move to get in. "Fine! I swear I won't talk, or try to make you talk about anything. I get that you're pissed at me for yelling and telling you you were stupid for doing that spell, and for everything else too, but please, can we, for tonight at least, just go to bed and get some sleep? Or do you really want to see me get cranky? 'Cause it won't be pretty, I'm talking cave Buffy all over again..."

"Fine." Mumbled Willow as she got into bed. She laid on her back, but turned her head away from Buffy when she joined her. The lamp was turned off, the soft glow of the moon lighting weakly the two friends.

The slayer observed the redhead's profile for a few moments, wondering how things were always so complicated between us. She knew she was being a little hypocritical herself since she refused to talk about certain things too, but...'No but. Maybe if I try and set the example, she will cave...eventually.' Sighing, Buffy turned around to try and get comfortable. She was almost asleep when she heard a faint whisper. If it wasn't for slayer hearing, she would have missed it. "Sometimes."

Buffy carefully settled on her back to watch her friend. Willow was staring at the ceiling, her eyes lost in the distance. "Sometimes?" Whispered Buffy.

Willow inhaled quietly, her eyes never leaving the ceiling. "Mostly at the beginning, I think. They didn't want me to hurt myself during withdrawals so they would hold me down when it was getting too...intense." She voice was barely above a murmur, but Buffy could hear as clear as if they were sitting face to face, chatting in a normal tone. Willow was laying still, but her fists had clenched and grabbed a handful of blanket.

"They never did it with the intent of hurting me, but I guess they were just so scared I'd try and curse them or something. She would pin me down hard whenever she would feel the magick becoming stronger."

"I didn't want to fight it, to fight them I swear." Willow confessed by glancing quickly at Buffy. The slayer had to fight back her tears when she saw the frightened, yet ashamed look that was clouding her best friend's green eyes. And she hadn't missed the way the 'they' had changed into 'her'. If she could only put her hand on that woman...

"I know." Buffy tentatively reached and put her hand on Willow's shoulder, hoping the redhead would accept the gesture. She was pleasantly surprised when Willow actually leaned in her touch, before turning on her side to get closer to her.

"It just hurt too much, and they didn't want to stop." Willow's voice was getting an edge that made Buffy's skin crawl. "Why didn't Giles stop it?" She already knew why, but she wanted both sides before deciding what to do about her watcher.

"Because I deserve it."

"What?!?" Buffy shouted. She turned and rose on one elbow. "Are you stupid?!? How could you possibly deserve that kind of pain! And don't shot me that look!" The blonde warned when Willow scowled at her. "We're not going to settle that tonight, but I'll tell you one thing. Yes, you did screw up. Screw up royally. But you were in pain, and grieving. You lost yourself, but Xander pulled you through. And now," Buffy raised Willow's chin so they were eye to eye, "if I ever hear you say, of any way imaginable, that you deserved any kind of the pain they put you through, I will kick your ass. And believe me, you don't want that either. Are we clear?" Buffy finished, her voice low and hard. Willow nodded weakly, not trusting her voice at the moment. "Good."

"You know I really should ground you for even thinking like that." Buffy half-joked to lighten the mood. She chuckled when Willow snorted in her shoulder. "I believe you already did that."

"Oh yeah. It did lots of good, huh? You've been really focused on not talking to me since then. I mean you talked with Dawn, with Anya, hell you even did small talk with Spike! Ugh. Maybe I should ground you for that too."

"Stop it." Willow's features were serious but the tone was light, if not slightly amused. She winced a little when she laid back on her back, her ribs making themselves know. "I get that you're worried, but you didn't have to do that, you know?"

"I know. But it's done, and I'm not changing my mind, so you can stop with the sad pouting face, it won't work." Buffy smirked when Willow let out a frustrated sigh. "This is completely ridiculous. I mean, I'm a grown woman, well at least a young grown woman, and it's bad enough I can't go to school this week even though I'm sure I could go and nothing would happen, and, and you want me to drop the night class and now I'm stuck here all day walking around feeling like I've bungee jumped without having attached the elastic rope around my ankles or my waist before, and I have to listen to Anya's incessant rant about money, and her newly-acquired ex-demon life, and Xander's exploits althought I always managed to shut her up before she had the chance to really start on that, and-"

Willow's full-force babbling was cut off when a delicate hand was pressed lightly but firmly on her mouth. "Will, sweetie, remember that thing called breathing? Maybe you should try that, huh?" The redhead was about to protest but the smile and the twinkle present in Buffy's eyes confused her. "What?" She asked when the blonde removed her hand.

"You babbled."

"Yeah, I tend to do that. Or have you forgotten?"

Buffy leaned back in her bed, her head so close to Willow's they were almost touching. "No. Of course not. But, it's the first time Will. Since you got back I mean. That was the first mind-boggling Willow babble I've heard since you came back two months ago." The slayer twisted her head so she could see her friend. "Do you have any idea how much I missed it? I was beginning to think I'd never get to hear it again."

Willow took a good look at her best friend's relaxed features, and couldn't help but smile. "Well, maybe you should remember that in case it happen again, so you'll fell bad about telling to shut up, huh? What do you say?"

"It's a deal." Buffy leaned in kiss lightly Willow on the cheek. "We really should get some sleep. Anya's sleeping downstairs and she'll be waking us up first thing in the morning."

The blonde grinned at the irritated grunt coming from her friend, until she processed something out of the babble Willow had said. "Hey!"

Willow looked up, instantly worried. "What?"

"Willow Danielle Rosenberg, am I wrong or did the real reason as why you ignored me the last few days was because I had Anya here to help you out?!?"

The redhead rolled her eyes. "You mean you had her babysit me! She's nice Buffy, but she's so annoying! She keeps wanting to change my bandages and, hello! _So_ not going to happen, especially not there" explained Willow as she waved her arm over her side, "and she keeps putting the pills in my food, like otherwise I wouldn't take them or something, and-"

"Willow! Breathe! So it is why you were mad at me, isn't it?" Willow looked down sheepishly. "You could've just told me, you know?"

"You would've sent her back home?"

"No. But," glaring at her best friend, "I would have talked to her. I thought you hated me Will, after the other night, I thought..."

Willow reached for the slayer's hand and held it firmly in hers. "I don't hate you Buffy, I could never do that."

"But...I did what they used to do to you, I-"

"You did it because it's what Giles told you to do. I'm-I'm not saying I'm glad it happened, but I'll get over it, so no more guilt trip, okay?"

Willow fidgeted in the bed for a few seconds before finally succeeding in finding a somewhat comfortable position. As soon as she was done Buffy scooted up closer, resting one arm on her friend's shoulder. "Promess I'll try. Happy?"

"Yeah. Goodnight Buffy."

"Goodnight Will."

"He did."

"Huh?" A sleepy slayer grunted.

"Giles. He did stop it. I think he got tired of picking me off the floor to get me back to my room everytime they tried something new to strip me from my powers." Willow recalled, focusing on the memories to keep them at bay. She didn't want a play by play tonight. She remembered only too well everything.

"There was major yelling one day, and they stop. Instead of trying to bind me, or do whatever they could think of to gain control over my powers, they let me rest, then they started to teach me about everything I should've have learned a long time ago. So don't go and rip his head off, okay?"

Buffy took several deep breaths to control her emotions. She was a little relieved to see that Giles really did his best to help her. She was already thinking of what she would say to him when he arrived when Willow's voice pulled her back to reality.

"He's coming back, isn't it." Not a question, but a statement.

"Yeah. He talked to Anya today."

"He won't be alone."

"What do you mean?" Buffy knew exactly what she meant, but she hoped she was wrong.

"Some members of the Coven will be with him. Not all of them, maybe just one, maybe more, but there will be someone, and they'll want to check my magicks."

"Hey. It'll be okay." Buffy reassured the anxious witch. "This time it will be at our conditions, they will be on our territory. And I'm here. Don't forget that."

"Okay. Say, can I make bunnies apparate if Anya bugs me again?"

"No." Buffy chuckled.

"Can I keep a bunny with me in my room so she won't come in then?" Willow's voice was full of hope.

"Still no."

"Oh come on!" The witch whined. "I will make her guard you next time you break ribs, see how much fun that is. If I can't have real rabbits, can I at least hide bunny pictures in the house?"

"Willow..." Buffy warned playfully.

"Fine." Willow pouted. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

***************

On the other side of town, in the industrial area, three dark sedan cars and a minivan stopped behind an abandonned building.

The passagers of the first two cars got out of the car and quickly went into position around the block and the building while the occupants of the third watched several men unloaded the truck into the vacant warehouse.

One of the movers came back shortly after the last trunk was transported inside, and headed toward the only people still outside. He walked straight to a tall, dark haired woman. "Mam? Everything's inside now, they are installing the equipment as we speak."

"Good. I'll join you in a minute."

"Of course." The man left, but not before saluting his superior.

The last man outside, a middle-aged man whose badge said "Sgt. Brandson", started toward the door but stopped when he wasn't being followed. "Colonel? Sam?"

Sam Finn suddenly snapped out of her thoughts when she heard her name. "I'm coming."


	16. Chapter 16

"They should've been back already. How long does it take to see a doctor?"

"Xander! Stop being annoying and just sit down!" Anya repeated for the fifth time in less than two hours. "Buffy probably decided to go shopping or something, change her mind."

"Yeah you must be right, Anh, I mean it would be logical for Buff to take Willow to the mall when she has broken ribs. It makes it so much fun trying on clothes!"

Xander was pacing nervously in the Summers living room. He had planned to come to his best friend's house today, determined to finally make things right with Willow. His plans were rushed forward though when Dawn had called him and asked him to come immediately, but wouldn't say why.

He got worried even more when he was told that Buffy had taken Willow to the doctor shortly before he arrived because she wasn't feeling well. Xander shot a look in the living room, wishing the girls would get back soon. He sighed in relief when the familiar roaring of the jeep was heard in the driveway.

Dawn put her book down on her lap, no longer able to ignore her surroundings.

Xander and Anya exchanged anxious glances when no one came to the door. Anya had just rose from the couch when steps were finally heard on the porch. Buffy entered, Willow slowly trailing behind.

"Are you okay? Dawn said you weren't feeling good?" Xander moved to greet them but the glazed yet stern look the redhead sent him stopped him cold. That was when he noticed the hard cast that was covering Willow's right hand and wrist. "What happened? Why are you wearing a cast? I thought the doctor had said it was sprained, no one never said anything about broken bones!"

"Xander-"

Dawn could tell Willow was about to lose it, so she walked past Xander to stand next to the witch. "Hey, you okay?"

Willow hesitantly glanced at Buffy. "I-I, I'm tired, I just want to go to my room."

"Of course." Buffy leaned closer and brushed a hand over the redhead's arm. "Do you need help with anything?"

Willow only shook her head, while turning around and moving to the stairs. Xander stepped forward nervously. "Willow..."

Willow stopped and met her friend's pleading glance. "Not now Xander, I- I just can't."

Anya watched as tempers rose fast around the room. Establishing it was up to her to take control of the situation, the woman noisily cleared her throat. "Monkey sex!"

The former vengeance demon grinned when all eyes turned in her direction, staring at her with expressions going embarrassment to shock, with a little blushing along the way.

"Good! Since I'm pretty sure no one wants to witness another yelling contest as to know whose fault it is, why, when, how, yaddi yaddi yadda, Buffy you should know that you have a guest. And I think that if you have any yelling to do, you should do it at her."

Buffy and Willow turned around at the mention of a guess. The blonde walked in the living room, while Willow froze halfway in the stairs. "Sam?"

The woman in question had came closer during Anya's speech. She almost took a step back when the slayer's glare fell on her, but she stayed firmly on the spot. "Hi Buffy, Willow."

"Sam? What are you doing here?" Asked Buffy. She quickly shot a look to where Willow was. She was standing still in the staircase, an utter look on confusion on her face. Buffy's eyes suddenly widened and her head snapped back toward Sam.

"You got my call, haven't you? I knew it!" She turned to face her family. "Government conspiracy! I am never calling a flower shop ever again." Buffy mumbled.

Buffy was lost in other possible conspiracy plots when Willow's voice snapped her back to the present. "You call them?" The redhead's tone was surprised and hurt.

Willow stared hard at her best friend. 'Why would she call Riley and Sam, and not telling me? It doesn't make any sense, not unless...'

"No one told Willow about this? Well no wonder she's pissed. I assure you Willow, have I been the one to do the calling, I would've told you about the almost certainty of their involvement in your 'accident'". Expressed Anya, air quoting the 'accident' part.

"Anya? Shut up." Growled Buffy. She walked quickly to her friend but Willow just climbed up more stairs. Her gaze went directly through Buffy to observe Sam. The woman smiled warmly at her, but all Willow felt was a painful knot forming in her stomach.

Buffy remarked the changing of Willow's demeanor, and the hurt look filling her eyes. "Will..."

"N-no it's okay, but I-I don't feel so good, I'm just gonna go upstairs and get lost or something while you guys talk about...whatever."

Before anyone had any chance to add something the redhead slumped upstairs quickly as she could without risking tripping.

"I guess my timing's really off, huh?" Questionned rhetorically Sam.

"Yes. Today just sucks." Answered Buffy nonetheless. "Can you excuse me a few minutes, I really have to talk to you, but..."

Sam grinned slightly at Buffy's sideway glance up stairs. "I have all day, take the time you need with her." She added softly.

"So", Exclaimed Anya. "Where were we before the dramatic yet rude interrupted? Oh yeah, what happened exactly after you and Riley divorced?"

***************

"Will?"

Willow ignored her friend's muffled voice. She didn't want to talk, or get up, she didn't want to see anyone. Still, she counted slowly in her head, knowing that before she would even get to ten, Buffy would come in anyway.

At exactly seven, the door softly opened, and she couldn't help to feel guilty as she imagined a weary slayer looking franctically around the room to find her.

A deep sigh two and a half second later told her that Buffy had finally targeted her. Willow still refused to budge a muscle, and kept her huddled position on the floor in a corner of her bedroom. The soft ruffle of material stopped right next to her, and now the redhead could feel the warmth coming off her best friend's body as she kneeled close to her. She almost reached out, wanting nothing more to get rid of the lancinant cold that refused to leave her since yesterday.

Fighting for self-control, Willow settled for listening to what Buffy, sitting next to her, was saying. Willow was exhausted even though it was still early in the day, and the soft and caring voice of her friend was slowly lulling to sleep.

"...swear I thought it was a dead-end. I just, I know the demons are all dead, but I need to know if they are more of them, and Dawn's idea of them being a new sub-species created specifically by the Initiative or whatever they are called now, and well I guess I needed closure, to make sure you wouldn't get hurt again. I'm sorry, I should've told you."

Buffy waited for Willow to acknowledge her, but nothing. The small blonde scooted closer after a moment, observing carefully her friend. Willow sat with her knees up to her chin, with her good arm crossed around them, her casted wrist trapped in the middle, and her head rested heavily against her arm. "Will, there is no way you can be comfortable like that, your ribs must be killing you."

Willow mumbled something that sounded like "I'm fine" to Buffy's ears.

"Yeah. Right." Buffy _very_ patiently waited a few more...seconds before resorting to plan B. "So, is this it? You're gonna 'silent treatment' me again? You know, I get the whole 'Xander issue', especially now, but what did I do? Oh wait. No, please don't answer that."

Buffy's enhanced sight allowed her to see Willow tilting her head a bit so she could crack a sleepy eye open toward Buffy. But the slayer didn't reacted, as if she had not noticed it. "I'm on your side Will, you need to get that thick brain of yours that I love you and that I want to help you, because I want to, not because someone is making me do it."

"So either yell at me for not telling you about Riley and Sam, or get over it. 'Cause if you don't I'll make you stay home another week and I'll ask Anya to stay here, not only during the day, but during patrol as well." Buffy was only too aware that Willow had tensed considerably next to her when hearing 'Anya' and 'patrol' together.

"And she will be the one playing nurse, she's only been asking like a million times..."

"You wouldn't". Willow lifted her head to scowled at Buffy.

"Why not? You won't talk to me because you think I'm hiding things from you, and I'm starting to think that maybe you think it's because we, I still don't trust you enough..." Buffy cringed inwardly as she spoke the last words. It was a low blow, and both women knew it.

Buffy got concerned when she realised that she wasn't hearing Willow breathing anymore.

She reached out carefully toward her friend but Willow harshly shrugged her hand away. She put her hand down and stretched to stand up, the movement sending a painful jab in the ribs, which only served to unnerved the redhead even more. Willow finally managed to get on her feet, and walked unsteadily to her dresser.

"Fine, let Anya do it, I don't care. Maybe you're right, it's not like I'll ever win your trust back, not completely. At least Anya's honest with me, she doesn't get the whole 'tact' thing."

Willow turned to watch Buffy, who closed the distance between them some more, while still keeping her distance.

"Will, I didn't mean it, I promise you, I only wanted to snap you out of it, that's all!"

"Okay, so not one of you is treating me like a freaking ticking time bomb, threatening to go off if at any moment if I heard something that could upset me?" Willow challenged.

"Of course not!"

"Oh, so you did tell me everything? Like how the hell did my hair turned black when I was fighting off the demons, and why did my eyes had red flames in them? You really think that's normal?!?" Shouted Willow, her voice slightly wavering..

Buffy stared anxiously at her best friend.. "I, I didn't know about the eyes thing. And I guess the magicks the demons used are the cause of your hair doing the sudden extreme makeover thingy. We could ask Giles if you want, when he comes. Will?"

But Willow wasn't paying attention to Buffy any longer. She was too busy staring at herself in the mirror. The redhead looked intently at her face, at the bruises that were making her look as if she had been used as a slayer punching bag. She vaguely noticed Buffy come close behind her, but her eyes were transfixed on her throat.

Willow suddenly became aware of being in front of a mirror, a thing she didn't recall doing more than once or twice since the attack. Now she was getting a good idea why.

***************

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, I never should've said I was having an easy semester (way to jinx myself, duh). Next update will be up shortly. I'm also working at another story, _Recovering_, that will kinda be linked with _Back Home_, but its story will be situating during Willow's stay in England.

Reviews are always appreciated!


	17. Chapter 17

"I still don't think it is wise to come unannounced."

"We will not be unexpected, Rupert. You phoned yourself to announce our imminent arrival. We will just be a little earlier than planned. I don't think you want to risk losing your egde, do you?"

"Of course not." Replied Rupert Giles as he finished packing a few books in a small suitcase.

"Then would your hesitation have something to do with having to face your young charges again?" Mrs. Harkness wondered while standing in the middle of the watcher's living room.

She smiled when all Giles did was stop to clean his glasses. "I am sure it won't be that bad. You faced much more dire situations in the past, what's two young women?"

Giles put his glasses on and turned to the witch with a smirk. "I am actually more concerned about you two in regards of 'facing' Buffy. Believe me when I say she will be far from happy to see you. Or maybe she will be a little too happy..."

Mrs. Harkness went to the window and looked at the meadow outside. "I am not worried about your slayer, Rupert. From what to told us, she will understand what we had to do to help her friend. And even if she doesn't, she will have to trust us when she knows what is at stake."

A knock at the front door interrupted the conversation and Giles went to answer it stiffly. "Hello, Maegan, Callie."

"Hi, mister Giles", smiled Callie. Both women walked in the small cottage and went directly to stand beside Mrs. Harkness. "We're ready to go, everything is in the car."

"I still don't see why I have to go with you, Mrs Harkness. I'd be more useful here." Complained Maegan. The young witch recoiled when she received a scowl from the older woman.

"It is about time you let your grudge against Miss Rosenberg go, Miss Tornwood. It was decided that you and Mrs. Maines would accompany me to Sunnydale, period."

Maegan nodded weakly before leaving. Giles finished packing quickly, concern clearly visible on his face. He wasn't particularly fond of Maegan being part of the trip either. She and Willow never got along, and he feared her presence would only distressed the redhead even more. The only reason he had not argued...too much about it was because Callie was also coming. She, on the contrary, was one of the rare member of the coven to be actually fond of Willow. 'I just hope that between her and Buffy they will be capable to keep her calm enough for what's coming', thought the watcher ruefully.

***************

Dawn shot a worried look at the staircase when she heard her sister coming down. Buffy had been upstairs longer than they had expecting, and Dawn grew concerned when they had heard shouting earlier. "Is she okay?"

Buffy walked tiredly to the couch and dropped on it. "She's sleeping." 'It only took me over fifteen minutes just to convince her to keep her bandages on, and I had to promise her she could go to class tomorrow to get her to go to bed, but hey, she is sleeping...'

"I'm really sorry Buffy, if I'd known my presence would upset her that much I would've called before coming." Apologized Sam.

Buffy met Xander's gaze and noted his crestfallen expression. "It's not you personally Sam, she was already pretty upset already when we arrived."

"Is it why she wasn't feeling well? Because her wrist was broken instead of just being hurt?" Asked Dawn, who had taken place next to her sister on the couch.

"A little, yeah." Only Dawn caught the way her sister had tensed as she talked. "The doctor said the fever and stuff were post-traumatic symptoms, that she's still in shock from the attack."

Anya scoffed. "Maybe, but I know that you know the real reason for Willow's symptoms. She is still coming off the magicks she had to used, am I right?"

"Anya-" Dawn tried to interrupted.

"Having to perform so much under those circumstances when she has been barely practicing for months, there must have been some pretty powerful ingredients in that shot you gave her for her to avoid withdrawals almost completely. I'm really curious to know what they put in it, probably some cowslip, maybe bloodroot-"

"Anya!" Xander yelled before turning sharply toward the slayer. "Shot?!? What the hell is she talking about! How didn't I know about that?!?"

"She got sick after the demon attacked the house. Remember? I swear I'll explain Xand, but later ok?" Buffy hold the young man's angry stare, daring him to yell again. When he didn't, she got up from the couch and stood in the living room's entrance, blocking any way in, or out.

"Right now I'd like to hear from Sam if she has anything to do with inbreeded demons that likes to torture and drain people before killing them roaming around in my town."

Sam gulped as four pair of eyes watched her, suspicion clear on their faces. Still, the young woman sat up right and faced them. "I'm really sorry Buffy, all of you guys, but that was the deal of the initiative. Initiative that you shut down Buffy, remember?"

"So, it doesn't mean you didn't keep a few of their upbringing as a souvenir, you know in memories of such good times!" Suggested Xander, his comment dripping of sarcasm.

"You're not denying! She is not denying guys! You do are responsible for Willow's near-death experience!"

"Guys!" Buffy all but shout, and walked to Sam, stopping only a few inches away from her. She leaned in until they were almost nose to nose. "Sam. We spent the last week research what kind of demons could be vicious enough to want to torture my best friend, just because she does magicks. The only plausible theory we have left is the ini- your organization is being involved. So you better start talking, _now_, otherwise I will get cranky. And believe me, you _don't_ want that."

Sam lifted cautiously her hand in surrender. "Okay, fine. I'll tell you what I do know."

Satisfied, Buffy backed out and returned to the edge of the living room, and leaned against the doorframe.

"First of all, I just want to make it clear that my division had nothing to do with the operation. I heard about just before it was launched, and there was nothing I could've done to stop it either."

"The demons were a cross between a Staurk and a Khunare. Both species are really magick-sensitive. They can track a magick-user from miles away. I've been told that's why they were created in the first place."

Dawn's eyes widened and stared at Buffy. "The Khunare! I told you about that one, he's like a demon bloodhound. But, they're not dangerous, I mean they will track down magicks but they don't feed off of it, they don't even love blood." Added the teenager, now confused.

"A vegetarian demon? Wow." Commented Anya. "Oh! I get it! The Khunare is a great hunter, but can't do the job once the prey is found, so the Staurk's savage instincts takes over and kills the target. Clever! Huh, clever but very wrong!" She finished lamely as the others shot her a deadly look.

"Ok, now we know what kind of demon it is, and why they were created, but it still doesn't explain why they were in my town." Argued Buffy.

A chorus of "oh" echoed in the living room when Sam remained silent for a few seconds. "The demons were ready, they already had been tested in other places before. The Hellmouth has been monitored for a while, so when there was a highly inusuel amount of dark magicks used here last spring, they decided it was time to send a team here to try and get id of the problem."

"But" Continued Sam before any of them had the chance of saying anything, "What I don't understand is when you say our demons attacked Willow. They might be demons, but they only are interested in dark magicks, and morevoer, they can only track down active users. If Willow stopped doing magicks, there was no way they could've attacked her..."

"Willow's practicing again, but only light stuff, beginner stuff. You know, locator spells, floating pencils, she doesn't do anything dark anymore." Explained Anya. "And, there hadn't been any dark activity here since last spring, so why were your demons still here?"

Sam stood up and walked toward Buffy. "I can't tell why they're still here, but I can promise you we'll track them down and take them back with us. The operation was proved fruitless anyway."

"But, no you can't, they're-"

"Dawn!" The teenager looked up at Buffy's outburst. She was standing directly behind Sam and shot her a warning look. "Hum, I mean, they're dangerous! What if they do to you what they did to Willow?"

Sam smiled warmly at Dawn and at the others. "I don't risk anything, I don't do any magicks. But I will try and find out if there is any reason why Willow would've been attacked by them, okay?"

Buffy walked her guest to the door. "Thanks Sam. If you found more informations..."

"I'll let you know."

Buffy watched Sam leave, closing the door only after she was sure the woman really had left. She pursed her lips as she walked back to the others.

"Well that was an incredible waste of time." Shot Xander.

"Dawn, go get Angel's books and Will's laptop, we have more research to do."

"Why?" She complained.

"She's lying to us, and I want to know why."


	18. Chapter 18

"I don't get it Buffy, why do you think she's lying to us? Because of Dawn's slip? It doesn't prove anything." Xander objected.

Buffy ran a hand through her hair and felt like screaming. 'Why did they always listened to everything I had to say before, even when it was the stupides thing ever, but now they keep arguing everything?' The slayer inhaled deeply and chose to look at her sister. "Dawn, do you remember what you read about Staurk demon, about hum, how does Will calls it, energy signature thingy?"

Dawn smirked, but didn't laughed. The signature thingy would have made Willow and Tara laugh. Dawn pushed her memories and the pain from thinking about Tara away when she felt Buffy's impatience, and focused on the people before her. "Hum, signature thingy? You mean like a magickal trace a witch leave behind?"

"Oh! You mean the signature of the energy itself, don't you?" Exclaimed Anya.

Buffy gazed at the former demon. "I think so. It can be like a color, right?"

"Yes. Well it's hard to pinpoint exactly the energy signature of a witch, depending of what kind of magicks she performs."

"Like how Will's magicks always turnd to be either a bright green or golden, and how it started to get like a deep blackish purple color after she started to dab in the dark stuff?" Suggested Buffy quietly.

Anya smiled excitedly. "See Buffy, you can be smart when you want!" Cheered Anya, totally ignoring the murderous glare she received from the slayer.

"So, a witch's signature can vary, but not a demon's." Buffy stated. "Dawn, you said the Staurk's...signature was like yellowish? Which color is the Khunare?"

Dawn frowned. "I'm not sure if it even has one. If it's like a vegetarian like Sam said, it wouldn't probably be able to do any magicks, so..." Explained Dawn, before reaching out and grabbing one of Angel's books from under the sofa.

Buffy paced nervously in the living room. She only stopped when she turned around and saw that everyone was looking up at her. "What?"

"Nothing, but maybe would you care tell us what you know? Or maybe would you like me to leave so you could tell Dawn and Anya!"

"Don't be ridiculous Xander! Why would I ask you to leave?" Buffy retorted.

Xander stood up from the chair he was sitting in to face Buffy. "Oh I don't know, maybe because everybody seems to be avoiding me since Willow got hurt! I screwed up, I get it! But not telling me when my best friend is receiving shots and whatnot, it hurts." Xander snapped.

"Xander, I-"

"No. You know what, I don't even want to hear about it right now." He added while rushing to the front door. "If you want to start talking and stop treating me like I'm a criminal, you know where to find me. You know, if you're not scared I'll get you killed or something." Xander ranted before leaving, slamming the front door in the process.

Dawn and Anya watched the door with matching incredulous expressions on their faces. Their eyes went from the door to Buffy, to each other before going back to Buffy.

"Okay, what just happened?" Asked Dawn, shock still evident on her features.

"I'll try to find him, and apologize or something." Offered Buffy.

Anya warned her. "No. He won't listen to you, especially now that he knows you kept things from him." The ex-vengeance demon said. She almost jumped off or her chair, startling Dawn.

"You figure out why Sam is lying to us, and you", she said, pointing at the slayer, "you go and talk to Willow. It's about time she talks, about Xander, the demons, everything! Yes, she's hurt, it's too bad, blah blah blah, but now it's time to talk!"

"And you must have something new to tell when I get back, or I _will_ make her talk." With that Anya left too, leaving the two sisters looking at each other ackwardly.

"Hum, Buffy?" Ventured Dawn after her sister kept silent for a few minutes. She smiled tentatively at her when the older Summers lifted her head to met her gaze. "Why don't you go and talk to Will while I'll look what I can find on that Khunare demon, okay?"

Buffy rubbed her tired eyes with her palms and nodded. She slowly closed the distance to the staircase. "Fine...um...Spike said there was a lot of red magickal energy coming off of the demons when he found Will. Try to find a demon that matches that, okay?

Dawn froze, her arm stretched out to grab the laptop on the edge of the coffee table. "But, if one's yellow, and the other...you think there was another demon there, I mean beside the Staurk et the Khunare?"

"Just look, and could you check through Willow's data about the Initiative? If there's anything about witches, okay?" Without waiting for a response, Buffy went reluctantly upstairs.

***************

Willow couldn't sleep. She tried to, but she kept tossing and turning in her bed after Buffy left. She knew they were talking about her downstairs, and she really didn't like the idea of Sam being here. Something had to be very wrong if Buffy had decided to call Riley...and the slamming door she heard earlier did nothing to reassure her. She instead forced herself to remember what classes she had tomorrow.

'Tuesday...I know I have modern English literature, but what else...ugh, stupid doctor with his stupid painkiller.' The redhead thought. She had no idea it would hurt that much to get the cast on her hand. 'Well, maybe if wouldn't have hurt so damn much if he didn't had so much fun bending and stretching every single finger after making her wrist rotate in every direction.' She recalled sullenly.

And if it wasn't enough, her ribs were killing her, but she wasn't about to tell Buffy any of that. She felt bad enough already that Buffy had to help her with almost everything without worrying her even more. 'Yeah right, Rosenberg, because it worked so well this morning!' Willow thought.

She had only whimpered slightly when Buffy had bumped her wrist accidently against her knee, but when the slayer had found out that she had a fever as well, she had literally dragged her to her doctor right away.

Giving up trying to sleep, Willow sat up, wincing twice in the process. 'That's it!' She decided. She knew she told Buffy she'd rest, but her side was driving her crazy. Her _nice_ doctor figured it was okay to take off all stitches from her side right after playing with her wrist for half an hour.

'I swear Buffy knew I was about to turn Dr Wilkinson into a rat', smirked Willow, remembering the sympathetic yet stern look the slayer had gave her toward the end of the 'let's torture the redhead one tiny stitch at the time' procedure.

Willow could hear faint murmurs coming from downstairs as she left her bed and slowly closed the distance to her dresser. Buffy had managed to get her away from the mirror after an only brief look at herself earlier. But her best friend wasn't here now, and she needed to see what was wrong with her.

Willow didn't lost time on her face and throat this time. The long scratch on the left side of her neck had upset her, and she didn't want to see it again. At least not yet.

The redhead unbuttoned her pyjamas top clumsily, keeping her senses alert in case someone would come to check on her. After struggling for a few minutes, having to work mostly with her left hand, Willow finally succeeded in getting rid of her top.

She grunted in frustration though when she realised the bandages were tied in her back. 'Great job, but still not enough'.

Willow walked to her desk and, going through her drawers, dug out a pair of scissors.

Less than a minute later the bandages were cut off, and Willow started to pull them off carefully.

She was still holding them when Buffy softly kocked on her door a couple of minutes later. "Will?"

Thinking the redhead was sleeping, Buffy opened silently the door, expecting to see her friend in bed. The blonde stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her best friend standing in front of the mirror only wearing a bra and sweat pants, her hands clutching at the bandages. "Shit."

"Willow?" Buffy called but her friend showed no sign of acknowledgement. She walked slowly to her friend, not wanting to startle her. The redhead didn't even flinched when Buffy put a hand on her shoulder, sqeezing it a little. "Will?"

"I'm fine. Really." She blurted out. Willow raised her eyes but didn't meet her best friend's concerned gaze. Instead she observed the both of them in the mirror, but her eyes were always drawn back to her side. "I mean, yeah it's big, bigger that I thought, but it could've been worse, right?" She babbled.

"It could've end up all the way up here, or down there, so I guess it's not all that bad." She ventured, pointing to her chest and her stomach.

"And I can always decide to use a healing spell to, to make it better, right?" Willow stated, she voice starting to crack. "Or maybe I won't, I mean maybe it won't work but even if it doesn't, it's not like I'll ever have someone to look at me that way again."

She took a long, hard look at her torso, taking in one more time the deep and angry looking gashes that ran almost completely on her right side before turning to finally gaze at her friend. "What if I can't make them go away, Buffy? I don't want to, to look like that forever!" She half-sobbed.

Buffy quickly wrapped her arms around her friend, tightening her hold when she felt Willow trying to pull away. "Shhh, it's going to be okay, I promise."

"How can you say that?!? What if doesn't get better? What if doesn't heal?" Willow half-shouted, still engulfed in the slayer's embrace.

"Why wouldn't it? It worked for your stomach didn't it?" She assured the redhead, lightly pushing her away a little to look at her in the eyes. Willow shot a her teary look before looking away.

Buffy suddenly remembered something. She kept one hand on her friend's shoulder and gently turned her over. "You mean like you're scared it won't fade, like the one on your back?"

Buffy knew she hit a nerve when Willow shot her a frightened look. "No. It wasn't the same."

She observed as her friend seemed to recover from her panic attack, and couldn't help but grin, seeing Willow blushing when she realised she was standing in front of her friend, half-naked. She even managed to scowl playfully at the blonde as she wiped away the tears on her cheeks, which made Buffy laugh.

"Come on Will, I think it's a little late for modesty, don't you think?" She teased before going to the closet and taking out a sweater for the redhead to wear.

"Hey! It's not funny! Meany..." Willow mumbled but grabbed the sweater nonethelessly.

Buffy observed her friend put on the sweater, knowing the help would'nt be welcomed right now. "I'm sorry Will, I should've prepared you for, you know". She admitted softly.

Feeling comfortable in facing her friend again, Willow locked her eyes with her. "I know. I just, I don't know Buffy. I mean, look at me, how am I..." Willow saw the pained look in her friend's eyes and scoffed. "Goddess I'm so stupid. You had to look at me everyday, so you already know what I'm talking about, I'm sorry."

Seeing Buffy was getting upset, she quickly changed the subject. "So, hum why were you coming upstairs?

Thrown by Willow's question, Buffy momentarily forgot what she was about to say. "Huh? Oh, hum...actually..."

"What is it?" Willow asked, now becoming worried.

Buffy started to have second thoughts, aware of the fragile state the redhead was in at the moment, but considering it was crucial to keep the egde over Sam, she couldn't afford to delay getting the informations they needed anymore.

"We need to talk Will. About what the demons did to you. I know you don't want to but I think Sam and the Initiative might be after you."


	19. Chapter 19

"Stupid radio!" Dawn grunted in her pillow and pressed down hard on the snooze button of her alarm clock. It took her a few seconds to process that she was still hearing the irritating sound, and that it wasn't coming from her alarm clock.

Her eyes snapped open when she realised it was coming from voices downstairs. Buffy and...Willow? 'Ugh. That's just great!' Thought the teenager as she got up.

She scowled at the clock, who was blinking a bright 6:46 in her face. "No! I still had like 30 minutes before I had to actually get up!"

Dawn sighed and debated whether she should go downstairs or not. Last night had been exhausting for everyone. Buffy had managed to convince Willow to come downstairs and had finally talked about the attack, at least until Anya came back and snapped at the redhead for hurting Xander's feelings.

Willow had closed herself up like a shell then, and refused to talk anymore. 'How could Anya had been so nice all the week before and in an instant becoming so...Anya?' The teenager wondered. All of them knew the answer to that one though: Xander.

It was obvious that Anya still had feelings for him despite her apparent cold demeanor she always adopted around the young man. 'Willow did snarled something to that effect to her before shutting up', recalled Dawn nervously, also remembering the steel cold look the redhead had shot Anya.

She had not seen Willow's face then, but if it was enough for Anya to recoiled and for Buffy to lay a warning hand on her friend's arm...

Her growling stomach finally winning the inner debate she was having, Dawn got dressed and cautiously trotted down the stairs, frowning when the kitchen got eerie quiet as she came closer.

Buffy was sitting at the island in the center of the room while Willow was leaning against the counter with her arms crossed defensively before her. Both young women's features were clouded with frustration. "Hi guys!" Dawn said, a little too loudly.

"Hey Dawnie." Both responded tensely.

Dawn did her best not to show that she knew about the bickering, so she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. "So, what are you two are doing up so early?"

"Well, I was planning on going to class", pointed out Willow, "but it looks like I'm too unstable and pathetic to spend more than five minutes alone!"

"What? That is so not what I said! I already explained to you why I changed my mind." Repeated Buffy with patience she was clearly not feeling.

"You said I could!"

"That was before I knew the Initiative had been tracking you down for almost a year! If you think I'm going to let you throw yourself at them on a gold platter because you're bored, well tough! It ain't gonna happen."

Dawn glanced anxiously between her sister's resolve face and her surrogate sister's indignant look.

"Hum, guys?" She called hesitantly when she heard knocking on the front door.

We're not even sure about that, and it's morning! Even if it _was_ true, they wouldn't be stupid enough to try something during the day!"

"They didn't mind doing it for Oz, did they?!?" Buffy hissed. The slayer closed her eyes and counted to three to try to calm herself.

"It wasn't the same!" Shouted the redhead, now pissed.

Since both adults seemed not to have noticed the incessant knocking, Dawn mumbled under her breath and went to answer, giving up trying to interrupt the glaring contest between the two friends.

"The hell it wasn't! They know about your dark magick addiction, they think you're a threat! We should consider ourself lucky they don't know you're the one who tried to destroy the world last spring!" Finally exploded Buffy.

That last comment had the effect of a really cold shower on Willow. The redhead cringed badly and looked away, ashamed.

"Willow, look at me." The stern tone in the slayer's voice made Willow's skin crawl. She met her friend's gaze warily, her eyes still burning with anger.

"I am giving you the choice, Willow. You want to go? Fine. But you will have to go through me first. You really want to put us through that again?" Warned Buffy, her eyes never leaving Willow's.

She was playing it low, Buffy knew, but she felt like she didn't have a choice. She had to make her friend understand the seriousness of the situation, and she also needed to see exactly where Willow stood, magick control-wise.

'Maybe I pushed a little too far though' though Buffy, noticing the redhead's green irises turning a shade darker. But the moment of panic Buffy perceived was quickly replaced by guilt when she noted that the darkening of her best friend's eyes was due to tears, and not imminent magick usage.

'Like the slumped shoulders and the shaking weren't enough giveaways', Buffy cursed herself. The pain she discerned on the redhead's features tore up at Buffy, but the edge in Dawn's voice kept the blonde from going to her friend and turned to face her sister instead. "Buffy?"

"What Dawn!"

Buffy spun around and found herself face-to-face with her watcher and three other woman.

"Hello, Buffy."

***************

"Woah! What's with the party!" Spike announced as he entered the bar. He made his way easily to the counter and took a seat. The bar was unusually empty for this time of the morning. There were maybe five or six demons sitting in a corner, and not a single vampire in sight.

"Hey, Spike! Hum, whatcha doing here? How 'bout the usual, huh? On the house!" Exclaimed Willy as he made his way toward the vampire.

"Free drink? What, are you that desperate to atttract customers, or is it because you killed all the ones you ...had." Remarked Spike, only now noticing the scrapes and the faint traces of blood on the floor, and the missing chairs and tables. "Did something happened?"

"The slayer's friends showed up last night. Did a raid, killed almost everyone." Willy whispered. The last demons remaining heard him nonetheless, and left in a hurry.

"No, come back! They're gone, you're safe! The bar tender whimperered.

"What do you mean, the 'slayer's friends' came?" Inquired the vampire. "Talk!" He ordered, his face shifting and closing in to the Willy.

"The ones, the commandos! They came in, asked questions about the same demons you and the slayer were after, and they butchered all my clientele!" Shouted the offended bartender.

Spike stared at the snitch, shocked. "Commandos, you sure?!?" He repeated, grabbing the smaller man by the shirt and shaking him.

"Of course! The slayer used to date one of them! I specifically remember because one of them said to watch out for a bleached vampire, that he was off limits for now, that it was an order from the slayer." He choked out, squirming under Spike's hold.

Willy fell down hard when Spike released him suddenly. He leaned down and growled viciously at the man. "What did you tell them?!?"

"Only that they were too late, that you and the slayer and the witch already killed all of them, that's all!"

Spike stood up abruptly, knocking over a table and a couple of chairs in the process. The slayer was going to lose it when she'd discover who was back in town.

***************

"Giles."

Giles saw Buffy unconsciously backed off a few steps until she was closer to Willow. "You're here early."

Giles smiled gently at the redhead when she met his eyes, hoping he was able to mask his shock upon seeing her injuries.

"Yes, well I know we were expected later this week but we figured the sooner we'd get here the better." He confessed.

"Uh-huh." Buffy mumbled, still staring hard at the three women standing beside her mentor. Giles mumbled an apology when he finally caught her look.

"Oh. I'm sorry, I believe introductions are in order. Buffy, this is-"

"Actually, Rupert, maybe miss Rosenberg could do the introductions, she has been awfully quiet since are our arrival."

Everyone turned to face Willow, who blushed under the unwelcome attention. "Hum, Buffy, this is Mrs Harkness, she's the one who talked. The woman on her left with the long black hair is Callie, um I mean miss Maines,-"

"It's Callie. Willow should know better than to call me by my last name." Callie teased, winking at Willow.

Buffy instantly liked the woman. She loved her even more when she saw Willow actually grinned shyly at the middle-aged woman, who recalled her vaguely of her own mother, with the way she had talked. And, moreover, the slayer was impressed of just how her simple presence seemed to have somewhat calmed her best friend.

"Fine, _Callie_, and this is Maegan Tornwood. _Miss_ Tornwood."

Everyone in the room picked up the cold vibe that filled the room when the two girls stared at each other. Buffy noted that she was barely older than them, maybe in her late twenties, and had short chestnut hair. What surprised her the most was the way Willow was staring coldly at the new comer. She wasn't sure if she should do something when Mrs Harkness beat her to it.

"Ladies, enough!" The older woman didn't even looked impressed when she received scowls from both sides. "Miss Tornwood, you are a guest here, and will act like such. I will not tolerate any infantile behavior, understood?"

"As for you, miss Rosenberg, I believe it would be in your best interest to calm down and recenter yourself. We could feel your anger from outside, and the last thing you need right now is to attract even more attention to yourself." Mrs Harkness chastised Willow. "When was the last time you did your meditations like I taught you?"

Willow stood up straighter and looked Mrs Harkness directly in the eyes when she addressed her. "I didn't think it would be wise to do it considering I've been feeling too light-headed from the concussion and the pain medication." Admitted the redhead, althought her voice had became more nervous as she finished talking.

Mrs Harkness took a step forward, very well aware of the defensive position the slayer adopted as she did so. "I can see that. And I also believe she's still under the effects of the Ataraxia serum." She stated, facing Buffy.

"Hum, I-I don't know. It was days ago" Stuttered the slayer, glancing at her best friend. Her hart sank when Willow didn't meet her concerned glance. "Why didn't you say anything?" She asked softly.

"You already felt horrible about it. I didn't see the point of adding to that." She confessed.

"Will..."

"Well, this is all very touching and everything, but that's not why we came here. Mrs Harkness?" Inquired Maegan.

Giles shot her a warning look. "Maegan..."

"It's just that, since it looks like _miss_ Rosenberg is still incapacitated from the serum, maybe we should procede as soon as possible, take advantage of that?"

"What?!?" Erupted loudly from everywhere. Giles cursed inwardly and took off his glasses to clean them.

Buffy was the first one to start yelling. "What the hell are you talking about! Giles?!?"

"It's not what you think, I'-"

Buffy snorted. "Oh really? Because she sounded like you came all the way down here to do something to Will! Well you better forget about it because neither of you are even going to get close to her!"

"That's enough." Said Mrs Harkness, her voice barely above her normal tone. Still, everybody in the kitchen fell silent instantly. "Maegan, you and I will a very serious discussion after this."

The older woman spun to face Willow and Buffy. "I am sorry, perhaps we could go in the living room to talk, you must have a lot of questions, and we do have some explanations to do as well." She added, glancing harshly at Maegan.

"No."

Everyone looked at Willow and at her 'resolve face'. "No, there isn't any explaining to do, because you won't be doing anything to me, not anymore. You forced me before, but we're not in England anymore, and I am doing better, so you can't do anything to me if I don't want to." She babbled anxiously.

Callie came closer. "Willow, we only-"

"NO!" The redhead shouted, and recoiled from the rest of the group.

"Okay that's enough!" Called Buffy. She was fed up of everybody coming to her house to tell her what to do regarding her best friend. "Dawn, go to school, you're late."

"But. "

"No buts! Nothing's going to happen, we'll still be here when you get back. Now go. And tell Robin I won't be coming in today, okay?"

Dawn scowled at her sister but didn't insisted. Instead she broke through the English delegation to go hug her sister and Willow. "It's gonna be okay, you'll see." She whispered to the redhead's ear before leaving the kitchen, ignoring the others.

"Now", continued Buffy once the front door slammed, "you guys can go and wait in the living room, and just to make sure we all stand on the same ground, no one, and when I say no one, it means no body besides me are to even come close to Willow, or you will have to deal with me."

'Giles must've talked to them', wondered Buffy, since nobody argued and slowly started to turn around to exit the kitchen. She walked closer to Willow, who was still glued to the counter. "Will?" Buffy asked softly.

"I want you to go to your room, okay?"

Willow's eyes flashed with hurt briefly. "Why?"

"Do you trust me?"

Frightened green eyes met firm yet warm blue ones. "Yes."

"Thank you. So now I want you to go to your room so I can talk to them, see what they want exactly. I promise you they won't do anything, but I also need to fill Giles about Sam. I'll go and get you as soon as I'm done. I just don't want you to do through that again, okay?" Finished Buffy, taking her friend's in her own.

"No. I trust you Buffy, but I want to know what they want too, and I'm sick of hiding. I want to know. Please?" Demanded Willow.

Buffy sighed and glanced toward where Giles and the witches had taken place. "Fine. But you stay by my side." Ordered Buffy with a mock-stern look on her features.

Both young women joined the others in the living room, taking seats on the opposite side from the witches.

"Okay Giles, now talk." Requested Buffy.

The watcher glanced at his two charges, and grinned slightly at the sparkle of life he saw not only in Buffy's eyes, but in Willow's as well. Giles leaded forward and swallowed hard, knowing stalling would only make things worse.

"The reason we came sooner is because we fear the Council may be after Willow."


	20. Chapter 20

The living room in the Summers's house was silent. Neither of its occupants were talking anymore, nor were even moving. The three witches were keeping a cautious eye in front of them, but Giles was more concern about watching Spike, who had joined them shortly after their own arrival.

"Is this some sick joke?!?" Buffy growled, shattering the oppressing silence. She forced herself to remain quiet during her watcher's explanations, but she was now so angry she couldn't keep it to herself anymore.

"I mean, are you seriously telling me that, as we speak, morons in tweed are coming here to take Willow away?" She exploded.

"Not take her away...exactly. They are concerned about her safety, and ours." Admitted ruefully Giles.

"Bullshit. You meant theirs!" The slayer shouted. She looked at the people surrounding her, and focused on their expressions. The witches were good at hiding their emotions, except for Maegan who, under a serious exterior, had a small smirk on her face.

"You know, this is the part I don't get", she continued. "If Will was so dangerous, why didn't they attempt anything while she was in England? She was right there, probably only miles away from them, why not trying to do anything then?"

Giles sat straighter but didn't talk, as neither of the witches. Spike scoffed loudly, startling Maegan. "Oh bollocks! Don't tell me that's the reason why you sent the witch back here, did you!" Hissed the vampire.

"Giles?" Asked softly Buffy. The watcher met her eyes and knew he couldn't lie anymore. He exhaled deeply before shaking weakly his head. "No. At least not entirely. Her coming back here was already planned, I can assure you."

"They left her alone at first because they didn't think she would-, they did not thought she would make it." Stuttered the man, dreading Buffy's reaction. He stepped up the pace before his slayer, who had tensed up and looked about to bolt, had an actual chance to hit something, or someone.

"We were doing everything we could, miss Summers." Interrupted miss Harkness. "I can't tell you how pleased I was to see miss Rosenberg up and standing today, looking like the girl Rupert has talked about so fondly in the past. But the circumstances were different last spring. You have no idea what had to be done to allow your friend to be here today."

Buffy slowly turned to the older woman, rage burning in her eyes. "Oh I've been getting a pretty good idea lately."

Giles's attention snapped back to his charge. "What do you mean?"

All eyes were on Buffy, waiting for her to explain. The young woman was glad Willow had left, even if it had really pissed her off at first. 'I wanted her to stay out of it, but I got mad when she did decided to leave. Go figure why', recalled the slayer. Willow had snapped after about ten minutes in the presence of the Coven, not long after Spike had came in to deliver the worrying news about the raided bar. Willow had wanted to leave the house so much that Spike actually had to help Buffy talked the redhead down.

When it didn't work, Buffy rushed upstairs to her room to get Willow's bracelet. She had never found the right timing to give it back to her, so it had been now or never. The redhead was watching her suspiciously when she came back down, so Buffy just grabbed her arm and nearly shoved the piece of jewelry in her left hand.

Buffy had knew any thought of escape had left her best friend's mind the second she glanced at the bracelet. The shock was evident on her face, and she had paled noticeably when she shyly lifted her eyes to look at the blonde. Willow's gaze went back to the bracelet and to the witches and Giles and then briefly back to Buffy. The redhead still looked upset, but her voice was soft again when she mumbled about going to her room.

"Willow's finally started to talk. It's not much, but now at least I know why she still has so many nightmares that aren't even related to what she did, why she's so insecure again, and why we can't even touch her without making her cringe."

"We did what we had to do!" Announced Maegan. "You should consider yourself lucky she's here at all, what she did-"

Maegan only had time to blink before she was suddenly face-to-face with a very pissed slayer. "One more word. Only one more about my best friend, and I will send you back to England myself. But I can't guarantee it will be in one piece." Threatened Buffy.

"Okay then, maybe we should move on to more serious matter, shall we? Like why you're stupid blokes wants red's head?" Suggested sarcastically Spike.

Buffy took a deep breath and sat back across the room, still glaring at Maegan. Giles cleared his throat, glancing as well at the short-haired witch.

"Where were we? Oh yes. After the last binding spell-"

"The one that almost killed her?" Remarked bitterly Buffy.

Giles scowled, but shook his head. "It was actually the one after that that caused her the most damage." The man confessed.

"When it turned out that Willow was going to make it after all, it was decided that only minor erm, restraining, would occure so she could start learning on harnessing her powers. When they heard about her...survival, several weeks later, they demanded, or I should say ordered an audience with Willow, because they wanted to test her."

"We refused, of course." Reassured Giles Buffy immediately. "At first. Then they started threatening to take actions against her, with her being an unregistered witch, and considering the menace she was posing to you in the event of her returning to Sunnydale."

***************

The construction site where Xander worked on across town was far from quiet today. The young was watching the numerous workers about to erect the last wall before lunch. He wasn't helping them since he had meetings all day, but right now he wished he could busy himself with something that didn't require thinking.

The last thing he wanted today was to spend his day talking to dull potential clients, while his only real concern was yesterday's fight.

Anya had surprisingly helped, even if he didn't admit it to her. She had gave him the cliff-notes version of what happened the other night in Willow's room, but what hurt him the most was that he had been forced to stay away from his best friends. He had been the one taking care of the redhead since they were kids, so now that Buffy was doing it, he felt, well he felt jealous.

He was still debating whether if he should keep his word and keep his distance for now, or if he should just ignore it and go back to the Summers house tonight when a sharp trill broke his train of thought. He smiled shepishly at his associates and clients and peeked at his noisy cellphone.

Xander sighed when his caller ID said _Buffy home. _He thought about not answering, especially since he did was in the middle of a meeting, but he also did tell them to call when they'd change their minds.

He glanced at the small crowd in the room and put up a hand, indicating he had to take it. "Hello?" He finally answered, trying to sound slightly irritated from being interrupted. "Hello?" He had to repeat when no one spoke.

"Xand?"

Xander waved distractly at his clients and left abruptly the room to go outside. "Will?"

"Hi." The soft reply instantly made the carpenter smile, but also worried him.

"Is everything okay? Are you okay? Where's Buffy, did something happened?" He almost added an 'and how come you're suddenly talking to me?', but refrained in time.

Xander smiled even more when a small giggle made its way to his ear. "I'm the babbler Xander, remember?" He frowned when Willow fell silent, but waited for her to continue.

"I'm, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that yesterday. I just, I guess I wanted to see if you were okay." She whispered.

"I'm glad you called Will, I missed you." He tried, not sure of what he should say.

He could tell by Willow's slow breathing that she wasn't sure what to say either. It pained him to see how his relationship with the redhead had became so strained lately, and that he had no idea how to salvage it.

"Look, Xand, I'm not saying everything's good and rolling, but I do think that we need to talk. I'm not saying that is has to be today either, but things really sucks right now, and ignoring each other isn't the right thing to do."

"Sounds fair to me." He exclaimed, much cheerier than he felt in reality. "Hey, I know it's a long shot, but how would you like to get out of the house tonight? Nothing fancy, just maybe food, hang out? We don't even have to talk about serious stuff if you don't wanna." He offered, crossing his fingers.

Willow hesitate, shattering the young man's hope. "Oh, hum. I, hum."

"That's fine Willow, don't stress out about it, I understand you don't want to see me yet."

The redhead backpedaled fast. "No it's not that, I just, I can't go out right now. But, maybe you could come over later, if you want? I promise I won't scowl or anything."

"Okay, I'd like that. And tell Buffy not to cook anything, I'll bring dinner with me."

"It's okay Xand, you don't-"

"Just let me, please?"

"Fine." Willow surrendered. "But I have to tell you, we have guests."

***************

Willow hung up the phone and stared at her cast for a while. 'It's the right thing to do, I can do it. Xander, Sam, the Coven...yeah I can do it.' She tried to convince herself. Willow took a slow breath and got up, reciting her mantra as she went back downstairs.

Two pairs of eyes watched her as she landed on the first floor. The witches seemed gone, the living room occupied with only Buffy on the couch and Giles on the chair beside her. Both smiled lightly at her while she moved slowly toward them.

The redhead hesitated for a moment before joining Buffy on the couch. Seeing that the blonde was still smiling at her, Willow took a chance of seating closer to her friend so she could feel the slayer's warmth.

Willow sighed in relief when she felt Buffy wrapping her arm around her waist, giving her much welcomed heat. "You okay?" She asked softly.

"Yeah. Where are miss Harkness and the others?"

Giles crossed his hands over the book he was reading. "They're outside, they are going to put a ward back around the house when they come back in." He smiled fondly as he watched Willow rest her head on Buffy's shoulder.

"I don't get what the Council wants to do with me, I thought you had gotten rid of them, Giles." She mumbled quietly.

The man exchanged a look with his slayer before answering. "They are concerned about the magicks you performed last week. They consider they were too powerful for someone who is supposed to be, erm, bound."

Willow closed her eyes. "So they're coming to try to put me down because they think I broke the binding spell, and that I'm about to lose control again. Great." She stated with a grunt.

"I shouldn't have fought back, it would've save everyone lots of problems."

Both Giles and Buffy glared furiously at the redhead. Unlucky for her, the slayer was the one closest to Willow. Buffy turned to her and slapped her arm. "Don't you dare say that again. _Ever_." Warned the blonde. She raised her free hand and cupped Willow's chin so they were eye to eye.

"You need to stop thinking you deserve all this crap. I love you, we all love you and we all care so stop saying you're not worth it! Because I discovered the joy of grounding, and right now you're practically begging me to do it again". Finished Buffy, althought she had a little teasing grin on her face.

Willow glanced at Giles, abashed. "Sorry, I won't do it again."

"Wow, now we know who wear the pants in the family." Smirked Maegan, who had just come back in the house.

"Oh shut the hell up, Maegan!" Seethed Willow.

Everyone stared in shock at Willow, while she and Maegan threw murderous glare at each other.

"Okay, just what the hell is going on between those two?" Demanded Buffy to miss Harkness.

"Now is not the time, miss Summers. We must finish the preparations for the ward, but first I'd like to take advantage of miss Rosenberg's presence to ask her a few questions about what happened during her misadventure last week."

Buffy felt Willow stiffen next to her. "I can help you with that, she already told me about it."

Miss Harkness sat on a chair and faced both girls on the couch. "That is kind of you, but we need to know what you did, Willow, while you were facing the demons."

Callie silently went to sit in front of Willow, so the only place left was across the room. Still, Maegan didn't moved, obviously still furious. She only went to sit after miss Harkness gave her a stern look.

"What do you need to know?" Asked Willow nervously.

"The vampire already filled us in the kind of demons you fought." Observed the woman. "Were you already hurt when you first started using magicks?"

Willow nodded weakly. "I know it isn't easy for you, but you must be more concise, Willow."

Willow inhaled deeply and winced slightly at the painful twinge in her ribcage. "I had already been thrown against a tree twice, and I had been hit maybe once or twice in the face. It kept putting his weight down on me so I could feel my broken ribs grind together. Is that concise enough for ya?" She answered bitterly.

Miss Harkness chose to not pick up on the young redhead's tone. For now. "So you couldn`t possible in full control of your powers. Did they use their magickal powers on you?"

The older woman observed closely the wide range of emotions flickering on the girl's face. "Willow?"

"That's-that's how they hurt me in the first place. I just felt weird and next thing I knew I was thrown against the tree."

"Did they do anything else?"

Buffy took her friend's hand in her own when she felt her hesitate. "It, the demon leader, it wanted to take my magicks. It, _he_ kept trying make me lose control."

"How?"

Willow was about to lose patience. "How do you think?!? He kept going back between trying to drain me and force me to take his magicks until I couldn't take it anymore!"

"Is that when you used your powers over him?" Inquired Callie.

"Shortly after, I guess. Why?"

"What spells did you used, Willow?"

The redhead didn't want to have to answer that. But she knew lying would only aggravate her case. "Hum. I don't think I did." Willow shrank under the disapproving looks of the witches.

"What's going on?" Questionned Buffy. The witches were obviously thinking that her friend had done something wrong, but she couldn't see what.

Miss Harkness leaned forward, her gaze directly on the redhead. "What exactly did you do to them?"

Willow didn't know where to look. Buffy had just yelled at her for implying she shouldn't have fought back, and now the Coven was going to be mad as well because she had defended herself? "I reversed the magick pull he was having on me so it would backfire on him. Then I set a couple of them on fire."

The redhead blushed profusely at the severe looks she was receiving. The tension had noticeably increased in the room. Only Buffy seemed utterly confused. "I don't get it. Will someone could have the decency to explain? Giles?"

Giles, who had kept silent until then, met Buffy's curious gaze. "Willow isn't allowed to do direct magicks. Or magicks that doesn't require the use of specific spells, if you prefer". He clarified upon seeing his slayer's blank stare.

"Why?"

"Because doing spells forces her to channel her magicks, keeps them more under control. What she did could have killed her, she still isn't supposed to be strong enough to do that kind of magicks". Maegan argued.

Buffy didn't speak, stunned. She had the distinct feeling that they were still things Willow nor Giles had talked to her about yet, and it was making her anxious. Ignoring everybody for the moment, Buffy moved around to face Willow. "Is this true Will?"

She was relieved when shy emerald eyes met her worried gaze. "There wasn't time for any spells, and I was going to die anyway if I hadn't do it. So I thought I might as well take as much as them I could with me."

"Will", Buffy whispered, tightening her hold on the redhead. She more than knew what it felt like to be in a fight that was most likely the last one, and learning that her best friend had gone through it when she was alone deeply upset Buffy.

"Shouldn't we check the binding, miss Harkness? It would be crucial to reinforce it if it's breached, especially if the Council is on their way." Suggested gravely Maegan.

"What? No!" Shouted Willow. "It still there, believe me I'd know if it was gone. You said there wouldn't anymore of that stuff, Giles!" She stared accusingly at the watcher.

"Miss Tornwood's right, we should at least make sure she's still bound. Nothing more though." Callie replied, carefully avoiding Willow's hurt look.

Buffy , lost, was about to protest when a soft hand gently squeezed her arm. "I promise I'll explain later. But not here, okay? Not now." Willow pleaded with her.

"Can't you see it? That's what you were doing, after, why can't you do that?" Queried the redhead.

"Because your aura's still clouded, we can't see anything. Even Meagan can't." Explained calmly Callie. "It won't be as thorough as the other times, Willow, it's just to make sure you're safe."

"Yeah righ." Willow snorted. "Fine. But only if you do it." She challenged.

Willow observed with interest the witches glance at each other. 'They are so talking about me', she thought, certain they were having a telepathic conversation. The young redhead gulped when Callie got up. "We'll go to your room, it'll be quieter."

"Now?" Willow was still holding Buffy's arm, and didn't feel like letting go. Ever.

"The sooner it's done the better, you know it." Callie pointed out. "Buffy can come with you if you'd like."

***************

A few minutes later Willow and Callie were in the redhead's bedroom, and Callie had just started the spell who would tell her about Willow's current magickal condition. The redhead had prefered in the end that she should do this alone, because she didn't want to upset her friend even more.

But Callie knew it wasn't a good idea, since Willow was nervous and was already fighting the spell, and that the young slayer was not doing better downstairs. "Willow, you need to relax. I am not trying to hurt you."

"I know!" Hissed the redhead through her teeth. She really was trying to cooperate, but she kept blocking Callie even though she didn't want to. Everytime she felt the witch pushing through her defenses she would freak out and stop her.

Exasperated, Callie linked her mind to Giles's. '_Mister Giles, would you please ask your slayer to come upstairs? Tell her to be quiet and to stay in the doorway_.'

Callie didn't have to wait very long before she felt another presence upstairs. The door was closed, but she heard Buffy open it silently before everything went back to silence. '_She just need to feel a comforting presence'_, she told the slayer. '_You can come in the room but you must remain silent. _

Buffy entered slowly her friend's room, mindful of not making any noise. She watched intently her best friend laying down on her bed with Callie sitting next to her, a hand on the redhead's forehead.

The slayer frowned at the strain on Willow's face. She understood as soon as Giles had asked her to get up here that the redhead was fighting the witch. Buffy took a deep breath and calmed herself when it occured to her that more tension was the last thing Willow needed.

'Callie must be talking to Will too', wondered the young blonde, noting her best friend wasn't looking as stressed anymore. 'Or not', she gasped softly when a light tugging sensation startled her.

It was soft and dainty, yet overwhelming. It wrapped Buffy completely as if she was in a cocoon. If she'd thought about it, she could swear it was hesitant, like if it was asking permission to touch her. That's when she got it. 'Will'.

Buffy smiled gently, realizing her friend was reaching out. So she kept herself open, letting the redhead seek comfort in her. After what felt like only a few seconds, Callie was in her mind again. '_I'm all done honey, you can come over and keep her company if you want_.'

'_Is everything okay_?'

'_It's all fine, I just need to talk to my sisters'_. Reassured Callie, opening her eyes. She grinned gently at Buffy and let her take her place, while she went back downstairs to announce what she had seen.

***********

Giles was in the kitchen making coffee when a loud knock in the front made him jump. With Callie, Buffy and Willow upstairs, and Margaret and Maegan somewhere around the block, Giles went to answer the door. He slowed down as he neared the door, a chill crawling up his spine.

The watcher's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he took in the young woman before him. "Hi, you must be mister Giles?" She inquired.

"And I gather you must be Sam?" He retorted drily.

"Yes. Is Willow there?"

"Why?" Demanded dreadfully Giles.

"I'm really sorry sir, but I am here to take her with us."


	21. Chapter 21

Thanks for reviewing, it's really appreciated! I noticed while I was rereading some of the chapters that there was small grammatical errors, and other things like that, and I want to apologize for that. The chapters aren't submit to any beta, and sometimes I read a little too fast, so I don't find every mistake I made. And, english isn't my first language, so...anyway, enough babbling, here's a new chapter. Please review!

***************

Willow opened her eyes carefully, sighing in relief when she discerned the familiar knick-knacks of her room.

"You okay?" Asked a soft voice over her.

The redhead turned on her back and looked up to meet concerned blue eyes. "Yeah." Willow stretched slowly and started to sit up when a pair of small hands gently pushed her back down.

"You should wait a little, you just woke up."

"I'm fine Buffy, I just want to sit, my back kinda hurts."

"Oh. Sorry. Okay, there you go." Apologized Buffy, swifty but cautiously helping her friend to a more comfortable position.

Buffy was quiet, but Willow could feel her gaze going right through her. "I really am fine, okay? It didn't even hurt...much. I just freaked out a little I guess, it's no big." The redhead meekly reassured the blonde.

Buffy was about to speak when Willow paled suddenly. "Willow, what's wrong?"

The door open with force, revealing an annoyed Callie. "Buffy, Sam is here and she wants to take Willow with her."

***************

Giles stood in front of the stairs, staring sternly at the group in the doorway. He didn't moved when he heard footsteps coming his way, not wanting to take his eyes away from the soldiers before him.

"I thought you said you were going to hunt your demons down and leave, Sam? Or have you forgotten what your evil pets looks like?" Asked Buffy too calmly.

Sam watched blankly the human barrier keeping them to get to the redhead before answering Buffy. "They're all dead, thanks to your friends apparently."

"Then why are you still here?" Buffy took two more steps down the stairs, stopping right behind Giles.

Willow observed the scene before her: Sam was upfront but there was three other men surrounding her from behind. Two of them were staring uncertainly at the slayer, but the last one had his gaze firmly fixed on her.

His dark eyes sent shivers down the redhead's spine. She tried to look away but it was already too late. His eyes locked with hers, and suddenly Willow felt a tingling sensation filling her.

Whatever Buffy and Sam were arguing about became a blur as the inner warmth felt by the redhead turned into a searing pain. And yet, Willow found she couldn't take her eyes apart from the man, or neither could she move. She forced herself not to panick as she felt foreign magicks assault her, her eyes tearing up under the painful invasion.

Willow bit her lip as her whole body was begging her to release the hold she was having over her own magicks. 'Stupid slayer senses, how come she doesn't do anything!'

Even Callie didn't seem to noticed that something was wrong, not until Giles moved against the wall to let his slayer get closer to Sam. A brief glance at the redhead further up the stairs sent his senses on red alert. "Callie!" He shouted, pointing with his chin at the shaking and agonizing redhead.

Callie, Buffy, Sam and the soldiers all raised their eyes to assess the scene. The witch was the first to react, thrusting her hand between Willow and the shaman.

"Proteggere!"

Willow staggered as her surroundings rushed back to normal. Her knees buckled and she felt herself fall, but luckily Giles promptly raced up the stairs separating them and managed to catch her before she could hurt herself.

She could hear Buffy yelling about testing and 'dead body', right before she saw through blurry eyes one of Sam's men fish out his weapon.

The older and burly man never got a chance at aiming it at anybody though as the slayer sprung on him and elbowed him viciously in the face, breaking his nose. She grabbed his arm and twisted it in his back until he collapsed on his knees. The other soldier, much taller and heavier than his companion, glanced uncertainly at his superior before closing in on Buffy behind her, hoping to surprise her.

Still keeping her grip on the first's man's arm, the slayer sent a round kick in his ribcage, effectively cracking a couple of his ribs. The fat man groaned in pain but still tried to get close on his target. He barely had time to regret his move though before he was harshly lift off the ground and thrown accross the still opened door, landing painfully on the sidewalk.

Meanwhile Callie whispered a few words under her breath in an attempt to stop the shaman, but she wasn't fast enough. The tall, slender and long-haired shaman threw his hand in her direction, and a bolt of dark magick slammed into her, sending her flying in the kitchen.

The shaman turned to face back Willow, who was still crumbled in the stairs with Giles. He raised his hands, ready to resume his job when his head was jerked backward violently.

He let out a shrill shriek while Buffy held him by his hair, but soon fell silent when she pulled him to her and, before he could even think of using any magicks, Buffy whacked old soldier's and shaman's heads together.

Both dropped like flies, grabbing their heads and moaning on the floor.

Miss Harkness and Maegan arrived at that moment, and stared mouth wide-opened at the scene before them.

Buffy and Sam faced each other, one flushed from the fight and rage, the other pale and furious. "I suggest you and your little friends leave before I decide to really hurt them."

Sam peeked at her men, who looked about ready to bolt. Still, she crossed her arms tightly and stared defiantly at Buffy. "I can't leave without her. Killing our demons was a federal crime, and her abuse of dark magicks needs further investigation."

"I. Don't. Fucking. Care!" The slayer hissed. "We took you guys down once, I will gladly do it again if you don't leave my best friend alone. Indefinitely."

"Erm."

All turned to Giles. "I would leave if I were you, miss Finn. Otherwise I would feel obligated to place a call to the head of the Council about your little mission. I doubt your superior would appreciate receiving an official blame for unleashing unstable demons on the slayer territory illegaly. Twice."

Sam blanched and visibly lost some of her confidence. Willow, who had recovered a little, exchanged a confused glance with Buffy.

The blonde suddenly took notice of her watcher supporting her friend, and her ashen complexion. She took a step toward Willow, but hesitated about leaving Sam unsupervised.

Giles sensed his reluctance, so he smiled reassuringly at her, nodding at the witches. They quickly closed in on their unwelcomed visitors, giving Buffy the peace of mind needed. She swiftly climbed upstairs and switched places with him.

Satisfied at seeing the redhead lean in her best friend's embrace, Giles reached Sam and towered over her menacingly. "The Hellmouth is strictly Council business, so you better leave before they arrive. The military has no right being here anymore. Am I making myself clear?"

Sam was clearly angry by the unexpected turn of table but, not seeing any other solution, agreed begrudgingly. She turned around without answering, and motionned for her team to move. "Oh, and Sam?"

"The slayer acted solely on self defense today. After all, you did came here and tried to attack her family, so don't even bother filling a report. Just improvise something, it'll make things easier for everyone."

Everyone watched as Sam and her men left. "Miss Tornwood, would you go and prepare the spell, we will perform the ward in a few minutes."

Miss Harkness waited for Maegan to leave before turning to Buffy. "Miss Summers, it would be kind of you if you could escort miss Rosenberg to her room. We need to do a cleansing immediately. Whatever they did to her might have damaged the binding, and we need to check for any potential side-effects."

Buffy wanted to protest, but she had to admit that Willow felt off somehow. The slayer really started to worry when she helped her friend stand up and met no resistance.

***************

"What do you mean, you need to do it all over again?" Demanded a worn-out slayer. They were all sitting in the dining room, cups of tea or coffee neatly aligned before them.

It had been a few hours since the 'Sam incident', but everyone was still on edge. The witches were on one side, with Giles and Buffy on the other.

It didn't take as much time as they thought to check the redhead's binding since she was still exhausted from the earler magick strain, and Willow had been sleeping upstairs in her room ever since.

Margaret Harkness leaned in, but reminded herself touching the slayer right now wouldn't be in her best interest. "Like I already explained, the woman's shaman put a lot of efforts in attempting to push miss Rosenberg over the edge."

"Although he thankfully did not succeed, he managed nonetheless to seriously mangled the binding. It would be dangerous, not only potentially for us but for your friend as well if nothing was done to repair it."

Buffy scowlded at the women in front of her. They had been repeating to her the same crap over and over again for the last hour. They were all about binding spells, cleansing, erratic energies...

All she knew was that they were planning to do to Willow what they've been doing to her in England, and the slayer was far from happy about it. "Why do I have the feeling you're not talking about just fixing, but doing something else entirely?"

"Buffy." Gilles gently called. "I really am against this as much as you are, but considering what happened today, I think it may be the most responsible thing to do right now."

"But, I mean you put the ward on the house, she's not in danger anymore." Buffy slightly whined. "Your timing way sucked, but now that is done, why isn't it enough? I mean she was strong, she didn't give up, so why wanting to making her go through that again?"

Giles sighed and reached for his glasses, but thought otherwise when he saw his slayer stare coldly at him. "Willow might be in control of her magicks, Buffy, but so is anyone with an aptitude in the dark arts. There is no absolute way to know she will be safe as long as any powerful witch or warlock have access to her powers."

"And, we still do not have the slightest idea about what the Council have in mind for her. By doing a thorough binding, a _temporary_ binding, at least no one will be able to hurt her like that shaman did."

Buffy grunted in frustration, got up and started pacing. "But, if they want to hurt her, what is she supposed to do if you incapacitate her? She'll be helpless!"

Callie put her ice-pack on the table and sighed. She had gotten a nasty bump on her head during her impromptued flight, and had to thank the Goddess for the aspirin the young blonde had given her. "Buffy, do you really want to see your friend get hurt like it just happened earlier, or like with the demons? That is exactly the kind of thing the Council is perfectly capable of. I believe you do have experienced their methods in the past, am I right?"

Buffy turned around sharply to face them. 'Do they really have to be so rational? I can't even argue with their lame-ass logic .' "They won't be able to hurt her magickally, in _any_ way?"

Miss Harkness waited for Buffy to look at her and held her gaze firmly. "No. The milirary's shamans, the Council, the demons that attacked Willow or even Rack all have one thing in common. They all needed a connection not only with their powers, but with her own as well."

"It's not about strength, or abilities or anything else, Buffy. It's about power. With that kind of individuals, it is always about power."

Silence filled the room. 'It's always about power', recalled Buffy, remembering the exact same thing being said by her best friend last spring. 'Why does irony always come back and bite us in the ass?'.

Buffy slumped in a chair and focused solely on her watcher. "Will it hurt?" She asked him softly, knowing she'd see it right away if he was trying to lie to her.

A knock on the door startled everybody. Buffy glanced nervously at the witches, but Maegan answered before she even had time to ask. "The ward did not went off. It's not them."

The slayer shot the short brunette a suspicious look as she got up. "Buffy?"

Buffy turned at the edge of the dining room. "Yeah Giles?"

"It won't be as worse now that she's not alone."

'Way to be cryptic and awfully vague, watcher. You are so not off the hook'. Buffy promised herself as she peeked through the window. Surprise still showed on her face when she opened the door. "Xander?"

The young man was fidgeting on the threshold, holding several bags of take-out food. "Hey Buff. Hum, I can see by the way your eyes are all bulging out of your head that you had no idea I was coming." He tentatively explained.

"I was supposed to?" Inquired Buffy, confused, but still getting out of the way to let him in.

"Yeah. Will must've forgot. She called me today and I kinda asked her if I could come over. Hum, Buffy, maybe you should pick up your jaw, it still on the floor where it fell." Xander teased.

"Oh. Huh. I guess she did forgot. It's no big." Answered ackwardly the slayer. "Okay, well, oh, right, guests." Smiled Buffy sheepishly when she heard her watcher clear his throat.

"Xander, that's miss Harkness, miss Maines- uh, Callie, and miss Tornwood." She pointed the women to him. "That's Xander. And Giles. But you already know him." She finished lamely.

Xander watched the odd delegation, realising they were the witches from the Coven, judging by their English accent. He raised his hand uncertainly when Giles approached him, not knowing if he was going to shake it or slap him.

The young man was relieved when Giles shook his hand, and hugged him briefly. "Hello, Xander."

Buffy suddenly focused on the bags that held Xander. "You brought food? She asked you to bring food? I know I'm not the best cook but I don't suck that much!" Whined Buffy, slightly insulted.

"It's not her, I offered. Where is Will, by the way?" Wondered Xander, noticing the redhead was nowhere in sight.

"She's sleeping. It's been a while though, I'll go and wake her up, she hasn't eaten anything all day." Offered the blonde, still a little shocked that Willow had called their friend without even telling her about it. 'Huh, we did get pretty busy this afternoon', snorted Buffy in her head.

"Oh! Food that wasn't cooked by Buffy!" Exclaimed Dawn excitedly as she entered the house, dropping her bag at her feet and lunging at the food.

"Hey!"

"You know what, Buffy, that's okay, I'll go and you just take care of that, would you?" Xander mumbled quickly while shoving the bags in the slayer's arms before turning around and moving silently upstairs.

"Hey, Xander's here! You guys made up? Asked Dawn, only having noticed the man.

Buffy watched him go warily. "Hum, not exactly."

***************

Xander slowed down when he reached his friend's room. He stood in front of the ajar door, suddenly regretting his impulsivity. 'What if she's changed her mind, or get crabby because I woke her up?'

He didn't want to go back downstairs and admit his concern. He was sure they would all give him a 'I should've known' disapproving look. 'I am so stupid. This is my best friend. I've faced way worse, I wasn't half as scared when she did wanted to kill us all, so why am I being a chicken now?' He wondered.

Xander took a deep breath and quietly entered the room. The draped were drawn as to keep the room in a peaceful dimness. The young man walked to the bed and sat on the chair nearby.

He observed closely his friend for a few moments. It was the first time Xander could actually take a look at his best friend since last week. Xander frowned on how tired she looked, even in slumber.

Willow was half-curled up on the bed, with a thick blanket drawn up to her chin, but she seemed far from being relaxed. Unsure what to do, Xander decided to do as Buffy said.

He leaned closer and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Will?"

The redhead only started to show signs of consciousness after he had repeated her name several other times. "Hey." He greeted her softly when green eyes fluttered open.

Willow stared at him, confused. "Xander?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry to wake you up, but I brought dinner, and Buff said you've been asleep for a long time, so...are you okay?"

The redhead sluggishly sat up in her bed and rubbed her forehead tiredly, still half-asleep. She had a headache coming on, but ignored it. Willow looked up to see Xander watch her curiously, making her blush. "Things are of the yucky variety today, but I'll be fine."

Willow was carefully getting out of bed when Xander stopped her. "I am so sorry Will. I know you didn't want to hear it yesterday, or before, but I swear I so did not want this to happen." He rambled.

"I probably doesn't deserve it so soon, but I just hope you can forgive me. I-"

"How was she?" Demanded Willow.

"Huh?"

"Your date that night. How was she?" The redhead reiterated, a slight edge to her voice.

Xander squirmed under his friend's stare. "I should've known better. At least she wasn't a demon, but it didn't worked."

Willow stood up and headed to the hallway before turning around slowly. She glanced, upset, at her cast. "I might need surgery, you know? The doctor said the fracture was worse than he thought, because they didn't see it at first. Buffy haven't said anything to the others yet."

"They have to do more tests in a few weeks to see if there's permanent damage done to my hand. That's when we'll know if I need it or not. Don't tell anyone, okay? Only you and Buffy knows, and I want to keep it that way." Asked Willow politely, mindful of avoid Xander's distressed look as she left to join the others.

***************

Willow remained quiet during most of dinner. She half-heartedly ate some soup that Xander had bought especially for her, and some vegetables until her jaw became sore. Then she focused on observing the Coven members, who surprisingly enjoyed the chinese take-out. A lot.

Buffy kept glancing at her when she thought she wasn't looking. At first she thought she was being paranoid. She knew why Xander had the 'gloom and doom' expression, it was her fault, but the rest seemed fine. Too fine, chipper even. 'Enough is enough', she decided when she accidently dropped her glass, making the slayer jump.

"Okay, what's going on?"

Four innocent faces looked up at her. "I'm not stupid, you've been all hyper and chirpy all dinner, and it's just plain weird. What's going on?" She demanded, her 'resolve face' slowly appearing on her features.

"Will", Buffy debuted hesitantly. 'She's gonna hate me, she's gonna hate me, she's gonna hate me...'

"Buffy?" Willow began to panic. The blonde looked genuinely upset when her blue eyes met hers. "It's not dark yet, can we go outside, if the ward is strong enough?"

The redhead witnessed the witches and Giles exchanged brief looks before nodding to Buffy. She watched anxiously her best friend getting up and coming her way.

Buffy offered her a hand, which Willow took uncertainly, and led her to the back yard.

'Please don't hate me for this.'


	22. Chapter 22

The sun had set for about twenty minutes when Spike exited his crypt. He had no idea if the former initiative was still in town, but he wasn't going to waste another night brooding in his crypt in case they were.

He was hungry and, he figured, his chances of survival would be greater out in the open rather than stuck in such a closed space as where he lived anyway.

Furthermore, he doubted the slayer would be out so early, so he thought he might as well enjoy a good fight or two before going and do an actual patrol.

The vampire wondered about whether stopping by the Summers house after hitting a bar when a loud clanging noise distracted him a few blocks west. 'About bloody time', he smiled wickedly.

Spike ran silently toward the raucous, and stopped as he neared the city's scrap yard. He jump easily the wired fence and trotted past car carcasses, keeping an eye in his surroundings in case it would be a trap.

A faint whoosh coming his way sent Spike on defensive mode. He ducked and fell on his knees, a wrecked car door missing his head by inches. "What the hell!"

The vampire turned to where the door came from, but saw nothing. He got back up and dusted his dark jeans, while listening to the still strong footsteps that were running away from him.

Spike licked his lips and, game face now on, went to chase whatever had dared to throw the car door at him. His ears picked up one heartbeat in the distance, and frowned at the heart's frantic pace.

The person trapped in the yard wouldn't last much longer. Spike changed his course and cut by an alley made of badly accidented minivans. He listened attentively at the grunting sounds coming from his left. His left? 'I could've swear I was heading toward it', he realised, confused.

The loud crashed sounds he could hear indicated a bad fight, which could only mean one thing in his head. The covert ops couldn't possible be involved, their methods were too clean and fast than what was going on here.

Not wanting to lose any more time, Spike hopped on top of a crushed red SUV and jumped from car to car. He soon reached the fight area, or at least what was left of the fight.

There was still fresh vampire dust in the air, and multiple demon corpses were displayed

all around. Some were on the ground, another had been impaled to death through a Hummer windshield and, up from where Spike stood, another scaly demon was visible, looking like he had been crushed under the same Hummer's hood.

The heartbeat was getting stronger again, but now it was accompagnied byt the faintest smell of blood. Human blood. "Oh bloody hell!" He shouted angrily.

His remark was cut short as something squishy whacked him on the head. Spike glanced down at the slimy severed greenish arm at his feet. "You are so going to bloody pay for this, slayer!" He growled, wiping the slime and blood from his face.

It took a couple more seconds before Spike was able to find himself in the core of the fight. All he had to do was to follow the trace of slime on the dirt accross the yard. Part of him was glad that the demons seemed to be dissolving once dead, or dismembered only after a few minutes because he had the feeling that, otherwise, he would've been the one to have to clean this disgusting mess.

One last pile of crappy car parts to cross and the vampire would finally reach what, or rather, who he was looking for.

Spike sighed when the heartbeat started to slow down. He opened his mouth to snarl something sarcastic and mean, until a demon literally jumped him from the side.

Both went down harshly, grunts and growls echoing in the air. Spike took a nasty punch in the stomach, but he was still faster than his opponent. He waited for the demon to back-off a little to twist his arm under him, and grabbing visiously the demon's scaly head in a death grip.

The demon managed to hit the vampire once more right under the jaw before Spike could secure his grip. Once he had though, it was quickly over.

Spike locked his arms together and rolled on his back, dragging the demon with him. He then crossed his arms sharply, snapping the demon's neck.

The vampire could still hear the thick cracking sound lingering in the air as he stood up and walked up to the crumpled figure near a rusty school bus. An impressive jagged piece of metal covered in blood and slime laying on the ground next to her.

"Buffy?" He called, kneeling face to her. Her breath was still ragged, and she was holding her side protectively, but other than a few scrapes and bruises, she looked almost fine. Almost.

"Buffy?" Spike patiently repeated, lifting her chin with one of his fingers to make eye contact.

His cold skin seemed to have done the trick. Her head snapped up and she looked at him curiously. Buffy brushed his hand off when he offered his help to get her up, and got back up on her feet on her own.

"What is it, Spike?" She asked distractly as she brushed the dirt off of her.

Spike snorted. "What is it?!? You are bloody kidding me, I hope? Of course not." He smirked after thinking for a second. "You never had any sense of humour. Otherwise you never would've find Harris funny."

"Shut up Spike. 'Cause you're sooo funny yourself!" Buffy mumbled, probing her ribs gently with her hand to assess the damage.

"That's quite the mess you've done here, by the way. You could've left me some, you know? I've been itching for a good fight for over a week. I haven't had much action since Red...well you know." He added, ajusting his pace to the slayer.

"I wasn't looking for a fight, they were. Creeps jumped me a couple of blocks down. I am sure you'll found another freak to fight with!"

They quickly left the scrap yard, and headed for what seemed to be the Bronze, Spike thought. "So, why are you even out? I thought I told you I'd patrol tonight. Why aren't you home with Niblet and Red?"

Buffy tensed, but answered after a short silence. "I needed to get out."

Spike slowed down near the club but picked up the pace again when he realised that was not where they were going.

"I think I made a mistake." She whispered, half-hoping he wouldn't hear.

"What do you mean?" Spike put a hand on Buffy's shoulder to make her stop, quickly taking a step back when she turned to him sharply.

Buffy took a deep breath, and winced. "You were right." Spike's smirk annoyed her, but his eyes betrayed his curiosity. "What we talked about, the other night?"

"You told her?!?" Spike nearly shouted. The vampire didn't think he would ever be ready to face a mighty pissed-off witch. "I was bloody bluffing! God, woman, what the hell is wrong with you!"

"My friendship skills, apparently." Buffy muttered as she began to move again. Spike caught up with her fast. "Where you going?" He asked when he saw her about to enter a convenient store. "I need milk."

Spike pursed his lips. "Wait here."

"But-"

"I said wait here, I'll be a second." He ordered before going in. Buffy stared at the door, too surprised to even realised she had just followed Spike's instructions.

She was barely getting ticked off when he came back and shove a carton of milk in her arms. "No offense, pet, but you look like hell."

"Oh, hum, thanks." She responded ackwardly. 'Thanks? Jeez Summers, could I be any more pathetic?'

Spike observed her intently, his blue eyes waiting for her to unfroze. 'yep, looks like I can.'

Buffy spun on her heels and slowly dragged herself back home, Spike walking beside with a surprising patience. "You said I would lose her."

"That's not- What! Is she gone?!? Why didn't you tell me! I-"

"Spike! She's not gone, at least I hope not." She mumbled. Panic suddenly overwhelmed Buffy. "What if she's gone?!? Or what if she tried, and the bitch tried to stop her, and-"

"Buffy! Would you mind explain what the bloody hell is going on?" He growled.

The slayer, that had stilled when she had started freaking out about Willow's possible disappearance, quickly resumed her walk. Unless now it was more of a slight jog. "Long story short? Sam and her soldiers came to the house today to take Will away, then-"

"What, why?!?"

"They didn't! Why do you think? She said they only wanted to test her powers, to make sure she wasn't a danger. She was so full of it. And," she scowled at the vampire to keep him from interrupting, "I happily kicked their asses when the shaman that was with her tried to hurt Will."

Buffy glanced curiously at Spike. She could feel the rage coming off of him in waves. "Are you pissed because you couldn't fight with them, or..."

"Or?"

"I don't know, you seem awfully protector of Willow lately, that's all."

"Oh, that's right, I'm a neutered, souled big bad so I can't express feelings beside vengeance and death! For your information, Red is the only one who ever gave a damn about me. She kept me from staking myself, and she actually treated me like a friend the summer you were dead!"

Spike ignored Buffy's cringe and continued his rant. "She never forgot what I was, but she always respected me. Which is more that I could say about some blokes that let her to deal with everything last year. So yeah, I do feel protector of her. Got a problem with that?"

Buffy blushed and shook her head. "No, not at all. I, what do you mean, what blokes? Spike?"

"Weren't you talking about Willow wanting to bolt?"

'Why does everyone keeps being avoidy about the summer I was dead?' She wondered. She frowned at the different possible scenarios, but Spike's glare snapped her out of her reveries.

"The Coven thinks the only way to get rid of Sam and the Council is to bind Willow's powers until they leave. That way they will think she's under control and they'll leave her alone."

"I take they want to do the shit they did to her in tea central?" He asked, cussing when the slayer simply nodded. "Why would that make you lose her?"

"Because I agreed. She told me how much it had hurt her, but I still sided with them." Buffy sniffed and wiped her eyes.

"I'm just so scared Spike, I don't want the Council to put their hands on her, or the ops to do to her what they did to you, but now she thinks I don't care about what happened to her in England. I just don't want to lose her again, but now she hates me..."

***************

"I hate her."

"Willow! I know you are upset, but you are being rather harsh on her." Patiently explained Giles.

The man was sitting on the redhead's bed, right next to her legs. He had offered to stay with the young witch while Margaret and the others were getting ready to perform the binding. Willow had been a nervous wreck ever since Buffy had told her about the situation, and Buffy bolting shortly after had done nothing to help things.

"Does she even have to be here? I mean it's not like she wants to be here anyway, couldn't you send her somewhere else while, while-" Choked Willow.

The redhead curled her legs up to her chin, and wrapped her arms around them. She could feel the air changing around her. And, if she focused hard enough, Willow could hear the witches in the backyard chanting as they finished up their cleansing ritual.

It would be time soon. Too soon, first time in the morning soon. Everything happened so fast today that Willow still had some difficulties putting everything together.

It had been less than fifteen hours since miss Harkness had arrived, and yet it seemed like they showed up in the Summers's kitchen a week ago.

Willow had trouble adjusting with the fact that Buffy had agreed with miss Harkness. She wasn't sure what hurt the most between having to go through the spell again, or that her best friend had accepted the rushed solution to a still uncertain problem.

"I know what I promised you, Willow, but no one had expected such a turn of events. I trust you can understand that?"

Willow rolled her eyes and laughed curtly. "Of course. That's what I do, right? Doing the right thing even when it's wrong, because I'm expected to. Follow orders around like a good girl."

"I did bad things Giles, horrible things, but I didn't do anything this time!" She whispered.

"Are you sure there isn't any other solutions?" Willow bowed her head and fought for control when Giles looked at her apologetically.

Giles observed his daughter sadly. If only Buffy could come back...Xander left earlier to spend the night at his place, at Willow's request. She and Xander had talked for several minutes in her room before Giles took his place.

He had no idea what they had talked about, but he was relieved to see that Xander looked more relaxed when he left.

"I'll see what I can do about asking Maegan to stay out of it tomorrow. I can't promise anything, but I will try. Would you like that?" Inquired Giles, smiling gently when Willow lifted up her head to meet his gaze.

"Yes."

Willow stretched her stiff legs, glad Giles was the one staying with her instead of any of the witches. She started to blush however when she noticed him watching her curiously.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare. I was just wondering how you were feeling, hum, physically?"

Willow glanced down at her. "Better. I mean, I still kinda hurt everywhere, and my side is always itching like crazy, but it gets a little better everyday, so...I'm, I'm just scared, Giles."

"For your hand? Yes, Buffy did talk to me." He explained himself. "Are you planning to do a healing spell?" He asked cautiously.

"I wasn't going to, but now...I don't know. The doctor said that if there was to have permanent damage, chances are I won't recover more than seventy percent of motricity, even with the surgery."

Giles held Willow's scared gaze, but knew nothing he could say would make everything better right now. The watcher didn't have a chance to even attempt any response though before Dawn knocked on the doorframe. "Giles? Phone for you. It's an englishwoman."

***************

Buffy and Spike were around the corner to Buffy's house when the blonde stopped abruptly. Spike bumped into her, making her drop the milk. "What's going on?" He asked. That was when he felt it too. A weird oppressing sensation that made Spike want to go back to his crypt, and fast.

"No...no, they were suppose to start in the morning, not now!" She complained, taking off in a hurry toward her house. She was already at the door when Spike arrived a few seconds later.

Buffy burst the door open, only to find Dawn half-sitting, half-curled up on the couch. "Dawn, what's going on!" The glare her sister shot her made her cringe with guilt.

"Where were you! I tried to call like, fifty times, but I couldn't reach you!" She yelled, glaring at Spike as well when he came in.

Buffy searched frantically her pockets. "Shit!" She exclaimed when she fished the remains of her phone out of her back pocket, half of it falling on the floor.

The slayer looked up and dread filled her when she took in her sister's tear-streaked face. "They started, isn't it? Why? They were suppose to wait!"

"One of Giles's friend called to say a delegation from the Council is planning to leave in the morning, so they decided to speed things up. They started over an hour ago. Willow completely freaked out because she wasn't ready, and you weren't there like you promised her!" Dawn accused Buffy.

As if on cue, a painful moan was heard from upstairs, which was soon echoed by the teenager in the living room. "What are they doing to her? Giles said it wouldn't hurt!"

Buffy gathered her sister in her arms and hugged her closely. "I know. Shhhh, it'll be okay Dawn, I swear." The slayer winced when the magickal vibe present in the house intensified suddenly.

"Dawn, I want you to go at Xander's. Spike will take you. " Buffy decided, looking at the vampire for confirmation.

"No, I-"

"Dawn this isn't a discussion! Please, Willow wouldn't want you to make you go through any of this."

Another whimper was heard, followed by hurried footsteps upstairs, in the room as well as in the bathroom. Judging by Dawn's absence of reaction, only Buffy and Spike had heard the latter.

"I want you to stay at Xander's until I call you, okay?" Buffy demanded her sister. She kissed her on the forehead before gently pushing her to Spike.

"Take the jeep, okay Spike? I don't want Dawn in the streets. And would you mind staying over to Xander's too? Just in case Sam is still around?"

Spike nodded, taking in the young woman's nervousness. "Come on, Niblet. Let's go squat at Xander's." He nudged Dawn lightly toward the door, grabbing the keys to the jeep on the way out. Dawn glared one last time at her sister, then let Spike take her outside.

Buffy waited for jeep to get out of the driveway before seizing her phone and dialing.

She hung up abruptly after several seconds, getting no answer. She went to get the address book and searched in it briefly before finding the number she was looking for.

A warm and familiar voice answered after only two rings. "Buffy?"

"Angel, hey. I'm sorry to call you so late, or early, but are you really busy, like right now?" She asked him.

"Oh, hum, not really, it's a slow night, why? What's going on?"

"Do you think you could come over? Like now, before sunrise? I'm not even sure if it's a good idea but in case it is, maybe I could use your help." She babbled anxiously. She was stopped by something crashing upstairs.

Angel, feeling the tension in Buffy's voice, accepted. "I'll be there in about three ou four hours, is that okay?"

"Yes, thanks."

Both hung up, Buffy throwing the cordless phone on the couch to rush upstairs. Willow's bedroom was closed, but Buffy didn't care. She promptly went to the door to open it, but was thrown backwards. "What the?!?"

They had put a ward to keep them from entering her friend's room. "Giles! Open that door, now!" She growled.

There was whispers exchanged, and a few seconds later, a strained-looking watcher opened the door, but quickly put a hand on her shoulder to keep her to go to far in the room.

Buffy didn't need his watcher's restrain to stop her. The slayer froze in place, her breath caught in her throat. "No..."

***************

Fire bad, reviews pretty...and I don't like fires, so please review!


	23. Chapter 23

Thanks for the reviews, they always help to keep inspiration coming, so...

***************

Buffy stayed frozen in the doorway for seemed forever to her. The air rushed back into her lungs at last, making her gasp. She moved to get to Willow but a firm hand kept her in place. "Let go of me, Giles!" She hissed.

"You need to let them help her or she might get worse!" Giles rushed to explain before the young woman freed herself.

"But-" Buffy tried, fear and anger rising dangerously fast within her. She so wasn't prepared to see her best friend laying limply on the floor, her sallow complexion making her normal porcelain skin look like as if it was a tan.

What upset Buffy the most was the obvious pain that showed on the redhead's features. The only she wanted to do right now was to grab the witches that were hovering feverishly around her best friend and kick their English asses.

Giles response was gentle, but stern. "No. You want to get useful, push the night stand and the chair out of the way."

Her eyes never leaving the form on the floor, Buffy quickly did as Giles asked, allowing Callie to finish another sacred circle, bigger than the first one. Miss Harkness moved to Willow and bent forward, preparing to transfer the redhead into the new circle with Maegan's help. "Wait! I'll do it." Offered Buffy, already in motion.

"You can't, you would-"

"Let her do it, miss Tornwood." Cut Miss Harkness, a grave expression on her face.

Buffy was already kneeling in front of her friend, pained to see her friend so frail. Willow was covered in sweat, with her normally vibrant copper hair plastered to her head. She was so pale Buffy could actually count every small freckle on her friend's face and shoulders if she wanted to.

Buffy gathered her as gently as she could, wincing when the redhead whimpered, but didn't open her eyes. "She's still conscious?" She hissed while sending a murderous glare at Callie. "You told me she'd be out of it for the most part!"

Maegan gasped as Buffy pulled Willow closer to her and walked carefully to the mattress. "What the Goddess was that?" She panted, looking at her mentor curiously.

Miss Harkness didn't meet her gaze, her attention solely on watching the slayer interact with her friend. "Just a rather wild thought I had." She answered, glancing at Giles with a glint in her eyes.

"It made sense when miss Maines told me about it yesterday, I just was not sure to what point-" Explained Margaret until a low growl interrupted her. All eyes fell on Buffy, still standing beside the mattress, clutching Willow protectively in her arms. "What the fuck is that?"

'Bollocks.' "Hum, we didn't know when you were to arrive, Buffy, and-"

"I don't need to hear it from you, Giles. I want to hear it from them." The slayer ordered, her voice barely above a whisper.

Giles sighed discretely, somewhat ashamed to be relieved to see his slayer's rage being directed at the witches rather than at him.

Miss Harkness really saw for the first time what Rupert had meant when he asked her about whether being able to face Buffy or not. The slayer was staring viciously at her, and the witch finally understood how this young girl managed to stay alive for so long.

She could be bloody scary.

Still, Margaret kept her ground. "She fought more than we thought. She broke the lamp when she kicked the night stand, and she hurt miss Maines in the process. Since you were not here to help prevent that, we were in the obligation to resort to plan B."

Buffy, through her angry haze, glanced at the broken lamp. She shuddered at what her best friend must have been feeling to reach the point where she tried to defend herself physically. Her eyes then fell on Callie, who was holding a towel around her hand.

She swore inwardly because she knew Willow would feel guilty about it later, but right now her focus was more on what was resting on either side of the makeshift bed on the floor.

The black sheepskin restraints were nagging at her, almost daring to do something about it. If she wasn't still holding her friend, she would have thrown them out the window. "Well I'm here now so plan B is out."

She watched intently the Coven, daring them to contradict her. After what felt like an eternity, Callie was the first to speak. "It wouldn't hurt to try. More I mean. You felt it Maeg."

Miss Harkness sighed at the staring contest that went on between the two women. "Miss Summers, you can put miss Rosenberg down, we will attempt to continue without using the restraints."

"You only will continue if you don't use them. If you do so much as glance at them..." Buffy threatened.

Both Callie and Maegan shot a worried look at their mistress but didn't comment as they watch Buffy put Willow down gently on the mattress, pushing the restraints out of the way with disdain.

She felt Willow tensed when she let go of her, and was startled when she half-opened her eyes, revealing their almost blackness. Buffy turned on miss Harkness, alarmed.

"Oh dear, it's slipping. We need to get back into it before it gets worse." Without missing a beat both girls came closer and sat crossed-legged on either side of the mattress, Callie positionning herself next to Buffy.

The slayer watched helplessly as the witches resumed their chanting. Not listening to what they were saying, she instead focused on her best friend. Her pale tank top and pajama pants were clinging to her because of the sweat, revealing the dark gashes on her side underneath. Her scar on her neck suddenly looked much more apparent due to her ashen skin.

Before she could help herself Buffy leaned in and softly smoothed a few damp strand hairs on Willow's forehead.

"Whoah!" Exclaimed Maegan.

"What?" Echoed around the room.

Maegan stared at Buffy with wonder. "Do that again."

"What?"

"Touch her again. But don't stop." Snapped the spiked haired witch.

Buffy scowled at her but obeyed nonetheless. She reached out and put her hand on the redhead's arm, her fingers gently stroking it.

Maegan closed her eyes and resumed chanting, surprising Buffy and Giles when she grinned slightly after a few seconds, grin quickly mirrored by miss Harkness and Callie. "You were right." Maegan admitted to Margaret.

Buffy frowned, annoyed to be left out, especially when she saw Giles smiled as well. "Someone could explain to the blonde?"

Giles walked to the young woman, trying to keep the distractions at a minimum as the Coven members went back to their task. "Margaret and I thought your presence might help since Callie expressed the theory of you and Willow being connected, somehow."

The man chuckled but resist touching his slayer in case it would disturb whatever effect she had on the redhead.

"You two have always been very close from the day you met, and I believed that, even if you have drifted apart because of, well, diverse problems, your bond is still there. You two always seemed to be the best at grounding each other down."

Buffy glanced between Willow and Giles, looking to be deeply concentrated. "Yeah, you're right. But that's not all of it, is it?" She observed quietly, her hand never leaving her friend. 'Dead on', she thought when Giles ackwardly cleared his throat.

***************

"They're almost done." Xander announced quietly after putting back the phone on its receiver.

The young man slumped on the couch, careful as to not awake Dawn, who was curled up on the other end. He rubbed his face tiredly while glancing at the clock. The Star Trek spaceship on the tv unit indicated almost five am. "When do you want to go?" Asked Anya.

The woman had unexpectedly accepted to come over when Xander had called her last night. She was still mad at Willow for scaring her the other night but, after knowing what was happening with the Coven and Giles, Anya finally had caved and agreed to help with whatever she could, proving to the man her affection for the redhead was more than she was letting on.

"We'll wait until the Expresso Pump opens. We'll stop by to pick up muffins and donuts and stuff then we'll head over there." He decided, stiffling a yawn.

Anya nodded, keeping an eye on Dawn. "She was really freaked out. Do you think they hurt her badly? I've heard stories about such binding spells. There was this woman in Australia in the 1750s that had her powers bound, she was considered one of the most powerful witches of the asian continent. Well, let's just say it didn't go quite as planned." She recalled, her eyes staring in the distance.

"What do you mean?" Asked Dawn, too concerned to fake sleeping furthermore.

The former vengeance demon looked from Xander to Dawn. "Why do you think Australia is still one the less crowded continent today?"

"What?" Squeaked Dawn, her eyes opening wide in fear.

Xander scooted next to Dawn and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Thank you, An! Relax Dawn, I just spoke to Giles a few minutes ago, everything is fine. I mean, it's better now, and they were basically finished." He added sheepishly, flinching under the teenager's angry stare.

"How do you know he's saying the truth?" Dawn challenged him.

The glance shared by Xander and Anya wasn't lost on Dawn. "What?"

"They've done this before, Dawn. More than once. They know what they're doing. Come on now Dawnster, what do you say we get ready and go get everyone's favorite donuts, huh?" Xander reassured her, sounding more confident than he really felt.

***************

Giles was on his way in the living room when a knock on the door startled him. The watcher put his cup of tea down on the hallway table before grabbing a cross. Xander and Dawn would have just walked in, as well as Spike.

The watcher glanced cautiously at Margaret and Maegan, who were sitting comfortably on the couch, and peeked through the window. He frowned before promptly opening the door. "Angel?"

"Hi, Giles." The vampire responded kindly and entered quickly. "Sorry to barge in, but I'm running kinda close."

Giles followed Angel's glance outside, noticing the sunset. "Yes, I see. Erm, pardon me to be so blunt, but what are you doing here?"

Angel was watching the women in the living room, so he missed part of Giles's question. "Sorry, what?"

"I was asking what you were doing here."

"Buffy called me a couple of hours ago, asked me to come help with something. She didn't tell you?" He asked, surprised.

"No, but we've been rather busy all night. What something are you talking about exactly?"

"I have no idea", he scoffed. "She just asked if I could make it here before sunset, that she might need my help. Listen, I'm sure you must have a lot of questions, I do too, but I'd rather talk to Buffy, or Willow before starting to extrapolate or anything."

Giles sighed, used to his daughter fishing theories and plans from the most unlikely places and simply too tired to argue, nodded to the stairs. "They are upstairs, probably in Willow's room. Be quiet though, Willow's had a rough night."

"Is she okay?" Angel grew concerned when the watcher didn't answered, only shotting him a wear look.

***************

"Can I help you with anything else?" Questionned gently Callie.

"No thanks. You should get some sleep, you look exhausted." Mumbled Buffy.

Callie took a last look at Willow, who was sleeping in Buffy's bed before heading out. The slayer, beyond relieved to finally be alone, closed her eyes and let out a long breath.

She picked up the washcloth in the bowl of fresh water on the night stand, wrung it and slowly finished freshen up her friend. She ran the cloth softly on the redhead's face and neck, hoping it would help her feel a little better.

Buffy wondered for the fifth time if it had been a wise choice to bring Willow to her room. She was still reluctant to come inside even when her friend was there, but she didn't want Willow to wake up in the same room where the spell took place.

She tought about taking her sister's room, but she ultimately came back to her first choice, arguing that it would be more practical because of the joint bathroom.

Dropping the cloth in the water, Buffy dried her hands on a small towel still neatly folded next to the bowl. She was worried because Willow was running a fever, but Callie had assured her it was normal, that it would wear off in a couple of hours.

Buffy watched her best friend closely, checking for any signs of awareness. She knew Willow wasn't completely sleeping, since miss Harkness had explained that the exhaustion from the spell and her body trying to adjust itself to the new binding would make it difficult for her to fully awake before a few hours.

'I Wonder...' Buffy hesitated for a minute before getting out of bed and left the room.

She came back soon after clutching a bag and her friend's bracelet. She put the bag down and sat back on the bed and, gently, attached back the piece of jewelry on the redhead's left wrist.

With a sigh Buffy laid down next to her friend and closed her eyes. There was so much she still didn't understand about the repercussions of Willow's actions months ago and, wondered, for the enieth time since then, why did their lives had to take such drastic turns.

A faint ruffle of fabric tore Buffy out of the light slumber she had been falling into. The blonde cracked one eye open, quickly followed by the other. "Angel, hey."

The vampire was standing uncomfortably at the doorstep. "You were sleeping, I'm sorry. I'll go back downstairs, we'll talk later."

"No, it's fine." She whispered, sitting up while gesturing for the arm chair. "Have you been here long?"

Angel brought the chair closer to the bed, mindful to not make too much noise. "About a half-hour ago. Not too long."

"Close call."

"Yeah." The vampire observed carefully the dark circles underneath his former lover's eyes, and the lethargic redhead on the bed.

"Buffy." Angel softly called, waiting for her to meet his gaze, smiling warmly at her when she did. "Not that I'm not glad you called me, I did asked you to do so if you ever needed anything."

"Giles already explained some stuff to me, like why he's back, and what's happening to Willow, but I have to admit that I'm curious where I'm suppose to fit in all of this."

Buffy ran a hand through her hair, wincing when her fingers got caught in a knot. "I'm not sure, I was freaked last night, but now I have doubts about my idea. And I don't think Will or anyone will agree with it."

Angel leaned forward, his much bigger hands wrapping themselves around Buffy's.

"How about you run it through me first, sort of a test run? Then, if it makes sense, you'll tell the others about it."

***************

"They really dated?" Urged Callie. She had met the vampire downstairs and had been questionning Giles ever since.

"Dated who? And to whom the cool sport car parking outside belong to?" Asked Dawn as she, Xander and Anya made their way into the living room. They had their hands full of bags and boxes, which they put on the coffee table in front of the witches.

Giles was the first to plunged on the boxes, opening it and seizing a Jelly-filled donut.

"What's that?" Inquired suspiciously Maegan.

"That, madam, or miss, are Sunnydale's finest and first batch of donuts of the day!" Xander exclaimed proudly. "Go ahead, help yourself, they are aplenty. And we also have muffins, bagels, and coffee. Sorry ladies, they were out of tea." He apologized to the witches.

"No they were not, you-" Anya started.

"An! And FYI Dawnie, it's not just a cool car, it's a 1967 Plymouth GTX. It belongs to Angel." He added with a touch of concern.

Dawn choked on a bite of her blueberry muffin. "Angel? What does he doing here?"

"I called him." Buffy answered as she joined them. She collapsed on the arm chair closest to her, half crushing Dawn in the process.

"Why, what's going on? Where is he?" Xander demanded, his worried look going quickly between Buffy to the witches and Giles to Buffy again.

"Is Will okay?" Whispered Dawn, scooting a little to the right so her sister could sit more comfortably.

"I think so." Breathed Buffy softly. "She's sleeping, so Angel offered to stay with her while I talked to you guys." She gulped nervously when seven pairs of eyes stared expectedly at her.

"I had an idea last night. Well this morning actually. I was just thinking of what happened yesterday with Sam and her stupid warlock, and what he almost managed to do. And I kinda start thinking of ways to prevent anyone from the Council to do that too."

***************

"Angel."

The vampire turned around sharply, startled. He was so concentrated on the photo album he had found on Buffy's dresser that he hadn't heard Dawn come in. "Dawn. Hey. You startled me."

Dawn looked at him, a beaming smile etching on her face. "Really? Cool!" Her grin faded though when she glanced at Willow. "Did she wake up?" She inquired with a soft troubled voice.

"No. She didn't even move a muscle. It's...disturbing." The vampire admitted, his focus changing when the teenager grinned sadly, her eyes locked on his hands. Or, Angel realised, at the photo album.

Cautious to not move the bed too much, Dawn sat quietly between Angel and Willow, and pointed at a picture of herself and Tara at the beach, both sporting goof smiles.

"I love that one. We were taking photos for a school project and Willow kept making funny faces to make me laugh even though I was being a pain in the ass. But that's not my favorite. You want to see it?"

Dawn didn't bothered to wait for Angel's response before snatching the album from his hands and flipping gently through the pages.

Angel caught several glimpses of pictures of the scoobies, pictures he already had seen before since he had been looking at the pictures for the third time when Dawn had startled him.

The teenager sometimes slowed down on certain photos, mostly when the blonde witch was on it. She finally turned one last page and stared intently at a picture of Willow and Tara, who had no idea they were being photographed.

The picture had been taken in the backyard during a quiet and sunny afternoon. Tara had her chin on the redhead's shoulder and was smirking, while Willow had her head slightly tilted, and was smiling fondly at her lover.

"Xander was telling silly stories and Anya kept slapping on the arm to make him stop. I was laughing so hard but I noticed that Will and Tara only half-listening because they kept whispering into each other's ears, which made Anya start complaining about- well, let's just say she didn't get to say a lot before Buffy covered my ears." She blushed.

Angel smiled at Dawn's story, nostalgia filling him as memories of his days in Sunnydale hit him. "Uh, doesn't Willow look paler than usual in the picture?" He blurted out against his best intentions.

Dawn fidgeted on the bed, glancing at the picture again. "Yeah. It was taken about two or three days after Buffy was back. She was pretty tired for a while after...after."

"I can imagine." The vampire mumbled.

"Do you think it could really work? What Buffy talked about downstairs?" Dawn whispered.

"I think so. It's not that complicated, as long as Willow is willing to play along." He pondered.

***************

"How can you be so sure it'll work? It's not like you and Will are Oscar-worthy." Reflected Anya. "Don't get me wrong, but she got pissed off every time you or they tried to make her do something she didn't want to do."

"She will do it if she understands it could be in her best interest. I seriously doubt she wants to risk going through everything again when they get here." Announced Giles sullenly.

"You think it's a good idea?" Asked a surprised slayer. "Hey! What do you mean, 'risk to go through everything again'. You specifically said it couldn't happen again if she'd go through your stupid binding spell again!"

Xander stood up rapidly. "I really don't think it's such a good idea, Buffy. But just the part about sending her away. I know, you are not sending her away if she doesn't want to." The young man backpedaled quickly at the warning glare the slayer sent him.

But that's true, as we know them, they tend to have more than one trick up their sleeve. And even if I personnaly would prefer to have her stay here, it might be proved to be a right thing to let her go at Angel's for a few days."

***************


	24. Chapter 24

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, life's funny like that sometimes. Hope you like what's coming. Thanks for reading, don't forget to review!!

***************

'Ugh. I'm dying. Again.' Were the first words Willow managed to form somewhat coherently in her head as she slowly regain consciousness. The redhead laid on her side in the middle of her bed, shuddering in spite of the thick blanket covering her up to her chin.

Her ears perked up as she tried to hear anything that would indicate the presence of someone in the room with her, but the only thing she was greeted with was an oppressive silence.

Willow made no attempt to open her eyes yet, since she could feel the sun's warmth, but especially the bright rays of sunshine that filtered through the windows's curtains on her face. Instead she concentrated on her breathing, trying to keep it light and steady, but the numbing sensation that resulted from the binding made everything much harder to do, even breathing normally.

Willow felt as if her whole body was disconnected from her brain. Her limbs were so heavy it made her doubt about moving even a finger at all. Strarting to freak out, she stirred wearily under the blanket, and exhaled in relief when she was able shift freely.

Stretching her legs sluggishly, Willow groaned when a sunbeam caught her directly in the face. She squeezed her eyes shut. The redhead turned her head to avoid the painful light again, missing a sudden movement on the other side of the bed.

The sound of fabric being manhandled could be heard before a hand gently pushed Willow on her back, and a much welcomed darkness soon followed when a fresh washcloth covered her eyes. "It's okay now, I shut the curtains closed. You can open your eyes, if you want?"

Dawn smiled lightly when Willow only imperceptibly shook her head. "I guess it would be stupid to ask how you're feeling, huh?" She wondered quietly.

"I'm fine, Dawn." Willow croaked. 'I feel like they stripped me from the inside out, but you so don't need to know that. Wow. A complete sentence. Yay me.'

"Dawnie?"

Dawn slightly rested her elbows on the redhead bed. "Yeah?"

"Where are the others?" Although in the redhead's mind it sounded like 'whera odrs? Ugh.'

Dawn's concern grew at Willow's elocution problem. "What? Oh my God, did they broke you?!? I am so gonna kill-"

"Dawn!" Willow shouted, wincing at the sound of her rather harsh exclamation. "I'm fine, I just...ugh." Willow stopped as a wave of dizziness hit her.

"Will?"

"What's going on?!?" Exclaimed Buffy as she promptly entered the room, with Anya and Angel close behind. They had rushed upstairs when they heard Dawn's loud and shrill voice echoing through the house.

"Is she awake? Because it's impossible to not wake up with that really annoying shrill voice of yours, Dawn." Anya expressed, as if she was talking from an personnal experience.

"Hey!"

"Oh my God, just shut up!" Willow snapped.

Buffy stepped forward and grabbed both women by the arms and literally dragged them out in the hallway. "Hey! Why does Angel gets to stay?" Anya whined.

"Because he doesn't talk!" And with that Buffy closed the door, thinking at the last second not to slap it shut. She turned at the crabby-looking witch on the bed, who had turned back on her side and buried her face in her arms.

"Will?" Buffy walked to the bed, exchanging a concern glance with the vampire at hearing the ragged breathing coming from the redhead. "Will, sweetie, you need to calm down, you're near hyperventilating."

Buffy shot a look to Angel, mouthing 'Get Callie' before climbing in bed next to her friend. Angel left quickly, leaving the two girls alone. "Willow." She called softly, flinching when Willow pulled away from her hand. She hesitated, her hand in the air, not sure if she shoud try to touch her friend again.

The tension racking the redhead's body told her it might not be such a good idea to touch her again, so Buffy settled to sit close to her best friend, her leg brushing against Willow's. "Yowershuposdtoobthr."

The slayer frowned in confusion. "Huh?"

Buffy sighed in relief when Willow slowly lowered her arms, even if it was to receive a tired and slightly unfocused glare from her friend. "You said you'd be there." There was no accusation in her voice or in her eyes, just sadness and an air of defeat, which made Buffy winced with guilt even more. "I know. I'm sorry."

The last twenty-four hours finally catching up with her, Buffy kicked her shoes off and laid down, resting her head next to Willow's. "I'm sorry Will, I got jumped by a pack of demons and, and it's not important." She quickly added, seeing the alarmed look that was darkening the redhead's features. "I promised you, did I mention how sorry I am?" She apologized for the millionth time, letting out her breath she didn't know she was holding when she gently hugged her best friend and wasn't pushed away.

Buffy tightened her hold and started to rub Willow's back soothingly when her eyes glazed over and whimpered faintly as nausea hit her. 'I'm sorry Will...'

***************

"Is that it?" Asked Xander curiously.

"Yes, finally." Agreed Giles, putting a bunch of tomatoes and fresh basil in the shopping cart. Both men have been roaming around at Sunnydale's supermarket for the last hour, gathering what Giles had called 'real food'. The watcher was not going to survive for long living off chinese take-out and pizza. So grocery shopping time it was.

"I don't understand how you all manage to stay healthy with all that crap you eat." Scowlded Giles verbally as he put the food on the counter. "I thought you finally were passed the whole 'I'm young, I don't need anything green to be healthy!' crap."

Xander glared playfully at the british man at his side. "Okay, first of all? We all eat green stuff. Okay, maybe it's not all vegetables, but still. And we are eating better than we use to. I can cook, you know? And Will does a lot of cooking too, but it's not like she could do it lately, hasn't she? And Buff did her best, but she was busy taking care of Will, so..."

Xander swatted his surrogate father's hand to keep him to reach for his wallet, and paid for their purchases.

Both men walked outside, Xander grumbling because of the pouring rain and hurried to put the bags in the car. "I was not judging you, Xander. I believe it would've happened eventually, Willow's powers were bound to attract attention sooner or later. Maybe I should've talked to you about it. I consider you all as my children, Xander. You've all been go through so much over the years, I didn't think it was necessary to remind you the importance to keep a close eye on your family."

The guilt and sadness filled the glance Xander shot to Giles, making the older man feel cheap for giving him his grief as well. "I'm sorry. I'm sure you've had your share of grievances since it happened.

"Nah. It's okay, I get it." Xander sullenly replied. The drive home was done mostly in an ackward silence, its occupants mulling over what had been said to each other.

A nice surprise was waiting for them though when Xander and Giles pulled in the Summers's driveway and went inside, their arms full of bags. Everyone, minus Angel and Anya, were sitting comfortably in the living room. Miss Harkness and Callie each occupied a chair, with Maegan sitting on Callie's arm chair, and on the couch was Willow, who was contendly resting between Buffy and Dawn.

A wide smile graced both men's faces at the sight. "Hi guys! Here we are, bearers of much needed healthy food. Or it's what Giles says anyway." Xander smirked. His features light up when Willow met his uncertain gaze and grinned at him. "So, milady, since you are up and about, you have the privilege to pick up what dinner is going to be tonight. If you're up to eat dinner, of course. Are you up to? I don't want to force you or anything, if you don't want-"

Willow smirked lightly at her best friend's antics. "Babbling is my thing, remember Xand? Thanks, but I'm not-" The redhead gulped when seven pair of eyes scowlded at her. "Hum. What did you bring?"

"I did most of the shopping, actually, since everything Xander wanted was either cookies, candy or frozen pizza." Giles explained, his eyes widening in confusion when his slayer glared at him. "You kept Xander from buying cookies? I knew you were evil, Giles." Buffy whined before starting to pout, eliciting a laugh from Willow and a roll of eyes from her sister's.

The witches watched the scene before them, deeply amused. "Oh because you think that's funny, do you? Go ahead, laugh at me, but we'll see who's going to laugh when he makes you eat one of his weird English 'recipe'". Buffy glared.

Willow put her good hand on Buffy's arm as did her best to contain her laughter. "Hum, Buffy, Giles's not the only English person here." Buffy looked up to be faced with the glare of three slightly insulted witches. "Oops. Sorry."

"And miss Harkness is actually quite a good cook, you know? At least she wasn't trying to keep forcing me to eat gross food like cow stomach and stuff." Willow recalled, her whole face crunching up in disgust.

The look on Willow's face combined with Giles's exasperated scowl sent the Summers girls bursting with laughter, along with Callie and surprisingly, Maegan. "Willow! It happened only once, and it was pig's foot, not...cow's stomach." Giles corrected her. "As a fact, I was wondering Margaret, if you would be interesting to be the cook tonight, I bought everything to make your specialty."

Comforted with Buffy and Dawn's curious gaze, and Willow's hopeful one, miss Harkness barely hesitated before agreeing. "Of course, it would be my pleasure. But only if you planned to do that famous soup of yours, Rupert." She smiled, glancing at a now expectant redhead. "Really? You're gonna do that, Giles? Do you think I could help?"

Giles grinned warmly at Willow, knowing her newly and unexpected enthusiasm more than surprised her friends. "It was quite tricky to find everything I needed, but yes, I will make it, Willow. But you don't have to help, you need to rest. I won't mess it up, you know, I've done it before." He gently reminded her.

The smile on Willow's face was rapidly becoming a glare. "I feel better, I can stand on my two feet, thank you very much!" She complained, ignoring the 'Oh yeah, what about fifteen minutes ago' glowering look Buffy shot her. "Okay, I can't help much, but still, let me do something, anything? Please?"

With a dramatical sigh Giles agreed, much to the redhead's delight. He helped her up and guided her slowly to the kitchen, followed by Margaret and a stunted Xander, and leaving behind an equally bewildered slayer and teenager. "Wow. She seems to be better." Commented Dawn, shocked.

"Her body's finally adjusted to the binding. And now that she has something to do, she'll be able to focus on something else besides the restraining feeling." Explained Maegan. "She keeps doing that faster and faster though. It's creepy."

"Maegan, stop it. I checked her, it's all fine. You can't compare the first time we did it with today, nothing's the same anymore." Not particularly loving the questionning stare the slayer was giving her, Callie thought a change in the subject was called for. "So, I see she still has her way to make mister Giles cave. He can be so stern and firm, but he always caved for Willow. Well, on almost everything. It is really astonishing knowing he trained a slayer for years."

"Oh please! Buffy always made him cave so she could have it her way. At least I think Will didn't over-used his teddy bear side like my sister did." Dawn established, smirking wildly at her blushing sister. "That is so not true! Okay, maybe a little, but we always won so why does it matter now?" She argued.

"Yeah, we kept winning until you killed yourself." Mumbled darkly Dawn. "What?" She asked when the witches looked at her with an odd glint in their eyes.

"You killed yourself?" Maegan questionned sternly.

"No, I jumped off from a tower a bunch of crazy people built under the orders of a crazy psycho bitch so I can save the world and keep my sister and my friends from dying." Buffy hissed, her jaw clenching under the anger she felt while glaring at an equally glaring Maegan.

"Well, no Wonder Willow tri-" Maegan was interrupted painfully when a hand shut her mouth almost violently. "Maegan! Shut up!"

Buffy stood up abruptly, a deep dreadful feeling crawling up her spine and squeezing it painfully as it spread through her whole body. Ice filled the slayer's veins and her vision narrowed to the two witches before her. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Callie took a step forward and lifted her hands in an vain attempt to soothe the slayer. "She did not mean anything, Buffy. It is just that, your friend still suffers a lot of guilt about what happened to you, and the repercussions of what she has done to you. I believe you can understand that. Right?"

"Hey Buff, come join the fun!" Shouted Xander from the kitchen, startling the four women.

Buffy glanced at her sister, who was now hovering close to her nervously. She turned to the witches, towering threateningly over them even if she was shorter by several inches. "This discussion is not over. Trust me."

She let Dawn take her hand and be lead in the kitchen, with two very quiet witches a safe distance behind. Her mood swing overwhelmed her as she observed her best friend interact with the group, but mostly with Giles. Earlier conversations swirled wildly into the slayer's mind, until Willow turned around and grinned at her.

The sparkle present in the redhead's emerald eyes lifted Buffy's spirits high, thankful to feel like things were going to get better again.

A sudden deafening crashing sound sent everyone to the ground. A metallic clinking of something falling on the floor pushed Buffy on slayer mode. She quickly analized her surroundings as she did a back flip to jump back on her feet, but she hardly had the time to land on her feet that an acute pain paralized her. She fell back hard on her back, and finally could see for the first time their attackers. Sam.

The kitchen was an invasion of black trousers and military weaponry. Through blurry eyes Buffy saw one of her worst nightmares: Every members of her family was being held at gun point, herself included whereas Willow was being cornered by two soldiers while Margaret, Callie and Maegan were surroundered by the shaman.

"Let go of her!" Buffy snarled. A similar cacophony was repeatedly heard accross the room as everyone else started yelling. Being the only one without having a weapon pointed at her, Willow took advantage of the shouting contest to hit her guard as hard as she could in the stomach before smashing her cast on the soldiers' nose.

"Ow, shit that hurt!" She hissed painfully. Willow didn't have time to recover that a sharp blow to her ribs sent her to her knees in an agonizing pain.

"Will!"

"I'm sorry Buffy. I knew you wouldn't give up easily, but Sam desperately wanted to try the civil way first. I knew you guys wouldn't come down without a fight, but this is for the best, you'll see it eventually."

Everyone froze in the kitchen at the familiar voice. Buffy looked up, a murderous rage barely contained in her darkened eyes. "I so should've taken you down when I had the chance."

"Well, what can you say, it's too late now." Amy sneered viciously. She backed off until she was at Willow's side and grabbed her by the arms, pulling her up roughly to her feet.

"You really should've waited before doing that nasty binding, by the way. You're the only one who could've have a slight chance at stopping me. It's almost a shame." Finished Amy too sweetly, smiling wickedly at Willow. "We'll be on our way now. B-bye!" Buffy's furious gaze barely met Willow's frantic's before Amy disappeared with Willow with a flick of her wrist."

"NOOOOO!"


	25. Chapter 25

_*Sorry about the lack of updates lately, work and other stuff kinda got in the way of writing. R and R always appreciated!_

_***************_

"_Hey."_

"_Hey you, what'cha doing?" _

_Tara smiled, standing up in their bedroom of the Summers's house, her blue eyes sparkling mischievously under the soft moonlight. "I was about to go and take a shower. Wanna join me?" She teased while walking slowly toward the bathroom._

_Willow chuckled and, after one last peek at her calculus book, shut it closed and quickly jumped off of her chair to follow her lover eagerly. "Not that I don't love sharing a shower, Tare, but didn't we spent enough time in there this morning? I mean Buffy will kill us if we use up all the hot water again."_

_The redhead bumped into the blonde wiccan when she tensed, and stopped abruptly. "She can't kill us if she's already dead, sweetie."_

"_What?" Willow squealed, nerves getting the best of her and rapidly freaking out when Tara didn't answered. "Tara? What do you mean?"_

"_I mean, I have to clean myself from all this mess. This is never going to come off." The taller witch commented with a frown. "It's ruined, just like everyone else's, just like yours."_

_Willow stared hard at Tara's back, only now noticing the unnatural darkness of their bedroom. "What? It's not funny Tare, what the heck is going on!"_

"_Your shirt."_

_A look of pure shock was clouding the redhead's features. "My shirt? No! No, it's fine, see?" She babbled desperately as her hand rose gingerly to check on her pink tank top. _

_Willow froze when her fingers brushed against something wet and warm. Tears blurring her sight and already running fast down her cheeks, the witch looked down at her hand._

_She gasped painfully when she saw the dark and coppery fluid covering them, as well as her top. "No! No, it's not real, it can't be, not again!" She stammered, her voice fading in an agonizing moan when Tara turned around to reveal a dark stain quickly spreading on her chest._

_Sorrowful eyes locked with panicked, dark emerald ones. "Why'd you do it, Will? Now you're all alone." Tara whispered before collapsing in the middle of the room._

_A sharp thunderbolt suddenly cracked in the clear darkened sky, echoing eerily in the night, briefly illuminating the whole bedroom. Willow screamed as she took in the massacre. Tara was slumped on the ground, dead, between the mutilated and skinned corpses of Xander, Buffy, Dawn and Anya._

"Nooooo!" Willow jerked awake, her head colliding violently against her night table. She hissed in pain and opened her eyes, frowning at the unknown and cold environment. 'I so didn't just hit my head on my night table.' She observed silently, still disoriented. Her body burned and ached in ways she had never experienced before. Even her fight with Buffy seemed like a simple sparring session comparing to what she felt now. Her leg muscles were cramped painfully, along with the one in her left arm. Willow winced when she tried to move, only now realizing she was laying on a damp and dirty cement floor, and that her left wrist was chained to the wall nearby.

"Well, look who's finally up." A cheery voice announced itself from her right. 'Oh you've got to be...' Willow looked up to see Amy towering over her, a wide smirk on her face. "I thought you were going to be out cold forever, you know? Those witches really messed you up good."

Willow glared heinously at her former friend while fighting off the wave of nausea that hit her mercilessly when she pushed herself against the cold brick wall to a more acceptable sitting position.

Amy bent forward to be down to eye level with the redhead. "We're gonna have so much fun, Willow!" She announced, slapping gently Willow three times on her pale cheek.

"Well at least I am." She smiled cruelly before raising her hand and sending a blast of dark magick at the defenceless witch on the floor.

**************

The Summers house was quiet. Too quiet. From the outside, the house would've appeared all the more normal if it wasn't for the pile of broken chairs and boxes of shattered glass on the side of the road. Or if there wasn't traces of blood on them.

The front door opened to revealed a sullen Dawn carrying another cardboard box to the road, this one full of the remainings of her beloved microwave. She dropped it unceremoniously next to the others and stared angrily at the mess for a second before her eyes softened and looked up to gaze sorrowfully at the dark starful sky.

The stars shone innocently, oblivious of the dramatic events that occured earlier in the day. Dawn blinked back tears and let out a shaky breath. She was tired, her left arm was sore from the fight, Willow was still AWOL...

Buffy and Angel were still out somewhere, trying to find any clue that could lead them to Sam and more importantly, Amy. Dawn shivered when she remembered the grim look on Buffy's face right before she left. 'Amy crossed the line for the last time', the teenager shuddered dreadfully.

Lost in her thoughts, Dawn didn't hear the stealthy footsteps coming her way. A shadow crept toward her rapidly, mindful of staying out of her sight while the teenager had her eyes glued to the sky. It was almost on her when the front porch was suddenly bathed in light, revealing the creature not five feet away from Dawn now.

Dawn spun quickly when she caught something at the corner of her eye. The young bottled blonde female vampire was already on her, her bare fangs inches away from her throat. Dawn shrieked and dropped on her knees to avoid getting bit, her arms searching franctically for the boxes. Ignoring the sidewalk's rough cement that had scraped her knees and hands when she fell, she clumsily grabbed the one with the splintered wood pieces and was reaching inside blindly when a vampiric strong hand seized her by the neck and harshly lift her off her feet, spilling the box's containt in the process.

"No! Get off, you freak!" She croaked while trying to dig her nails in the dead woman's arms or, even better, her eyes.

Dawn was starting to see white spots before her as she couldn't breathe anymore, and hardly winced a she felt sharp fangs plunging in her neck. The teenager heard a faint but frenzied series of noises before a deep, metallic clatter, quickly followed by a sickening bone-cracking thud echoed in the night.

The air rushed back into the girl's lungs as she fell forward, coughing and clutching protectively at her neck. Dawn didn't have time to recover that a slim but solid hand gripped her and attempted to drag her away. She kicked and scratched the offensive arm, only to abruptly stop when a shrewd and annoyed voice snapped her out of her panic state. "Would you stop that?!? I'm trying to save you, don't make me leave you alone with her, because I will!"

Anya looked defiantly at the slayer's sister, almost daring her to answer back, or try to bite her. She observed Dawn blinked a few times as she put herself back together and smiled when the youngest Summers gingerly got back on her feet. "There you go! But you should walk faster now, or she will make a midnight snack out of us."

"Eek!" Dawn tripped on her feet as she stood straighter and raced toward the house, stopping halfway on the porch stairs, realizing all of a sudden that Anya wasn't following her.

The former vengeance demon was standing still less than ten feet away from the vampire, her cast iron frying pan hanging casually in her left hand. "Anya! What the hell are you doing!" Dawn shouted worriedly.

She ran up to Anya and pulled her with her, eyeing the vampire rubbing her hand furiously on the big lump that was fastly forming on her temple with apprehension. "Come on, Anya it's your turn to stop being stupid!" She argued when Anya refused to budge. "Anya!"

"Look!" The ex-demon exclaimed, a wide smile lighting up her face. Dawn squinted her eyes to see what Anya was pointing at, but no avail. Her focus kept coming back to the raging vampire that paced dangerously close to them. 'Wait...paced? Close?'

Dawn gazed curiously alternatively between the bottle blonde and Anya, utterly confused. "Why isn't she killing us?" She demanded, tapping slightly on her friend's shoulder. The teenager tentatively took a step forward and, carefully, picked up a single piece of wood that had been dropped near her during the struggle.

The vampire took advantage of Dawn's action to lunge at her viciously. The young girl shrieked and stumbled backwards, her eyes widening in surprise when Anya jumped forward to throw repeatedly with a surprising violence the frying pan square in the vampire's face and head . Recovering fast, Dawn waited for an opening and, as soon as the bottle blonde raised her arms to protect herself against the peculiar assault, staked the wooden piece in her heart with all of her strength.

"Yay!" Exclaimed an excited Dawn as vampire dust lingered lazily in the air, last vestige of her late night prowess. She quickly lost her smile though when she felt a harsh tug on her arm and found herself being dragged once more inside her house. "Let go of me!"

She had no such luck, Anya having a unbreakable hold on the teenager until they were inside the house. She let the youngest Summers go only after entering the living room, but freed her so unexpectedly and suddenly that Dawn stumbled and barely avoid falling down, again.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" Yelled a majorly pissed Anya.

Dawn stiffly rose and stared with indignation at the other woman. "Wrong with me? What about you and you're stupid idea of playing russian roulette with a vampire! She could've killed us!"

"Exactly!" The former demon ranted. "You could've waited for Xander to come back to throw out the damn box but nooooo, you had to go and zone out, at night, alone! How idiot are you!"

Dawn scowled angrily at Anya, her eyes flashing with hurt. "I-"

"You what! Do you have any idea how it would shatter your sister if something happened to you on the same night Willow was kidnapped! She would be crushed, and no one would be able to do anything about it because the only one capable of snapping her out of catatonia isn't here right now!"

"So I can get killed, but only when Willow is around?!? Okay then, I'll tell my sister that! Hey Buffy, Anya said I could get killed or whatever as long as Will is here! Oh, here's an brilliant idea, why don't we go outside and play whack a vamp with Anya and see what shall happens if we lose!"

Anya rolled her eyes dramatically, totally missing the sarcasm dripping from the teenager's comment. She scanned the room briefly to find the first aid kit that had been used earlier. She quickly spotted it on the dining room table and went to retrieve it, sighing when she noted it was almost empty. "Think about your sister, Dawn. She's hanging on by a thread right now, with losing Willow and all. You need to be more careful, okay?"

Surprise filled Dawn's eyes at the concern tone in Anya's voice. 'Where did the crude, tactless and blunt Anya went?' She bit her tongue to keep herself to remind the former demon her own stupidness a few minutes ago, and instead let Anya tend to her sore and scraped hands. "We didn't lose Willow, Anya, they're going to find her and it's going to be okay, you'll see."

Anya nodded vaguely, forcing her hands to stop shaking as she start tending to the teenager. She applied herself, her eyes staying carefully down so she wouldn't meet Dawn's questionning stare in case her expression would betray her distress regarding the unlikely success of the intervention.

**************

"We can't find her." Admitted a disgruntled Callie as she sat down on a bench. Soon an equally grumping Xander and Giles were joining her to sit as well. They watched tiredly as Miss Harkness came their way, a stern looking Spike at her side. "Anything new?"

"Not a bloody word." Raged the bleached vampire as he threw his cigarette on the ground and stumped on it angrily. "I've pounded on every demon and vampire we crossed on the East side and I scared the hell out of the snitch, no one knows nothing."

The moon was unsually bright in the angry-looking sky, the dark and full of rain clouds were hovering threateningly low in the air. But even they weren't enough to block the sharp light that the moon was casting. A oppressive rumbling could be heard in the distance, pure white thunderbolts dancing in the night, witnesses of the thunderstorm that was slowly but steadily heading for them.

The odd group sat or stood in an ackward silence for the next couple of minutes, busy pondering what the next move should be. Almost five hours had passed since Sam and Amy barged into the Summers's house, Amy taking Willow with her and Sam keeping them hostage. Or at least until hell broke loose.

Spike hadn't heard the whole story yet, only the most crucial part: Willow was missing. The vampire wasn't stupid, he was fully aware that they were running against the clock right now. He had observed with a profound impatience the witches trying to do one locators spell after another all night, his frustration increasing rapidly as no progress was being made.

He couldn't help but feel that he should be patrolling with Buffy, or at least be out there checking out the best hideouts where the redhead could be held against her will, instead of playing witchsitter. 'Like you'd ever admit why you want to be with the slayer so bad, you bloody wuss.' He silently cursed himself.

The group had been separated in three. Anya had stayed home with Dawn to clean up the mess and be ready in case anything happened over there, so the rest had split in two. There was no way in sodding hell that Spike was going to spend any time with Angel, but the bleached vampire was beyond pissed when Buffy asked him to go with the witches, plus Giles and Xander while she would go her way with his Sire.

Spike snorted in laughter when it was decided that at least one witch had to go with them to be used as an 'energy detector', and that Maegan had been designated to be the witch in question. 'The outraged look darkening the slayer's face was priceless', the vampire recalled with amusement.

He was still chuckling when Xander cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "What?"

"I was asking you guys if everything went according to plan?" Repeated the young man curtly.

"Oh yeah. Right, the plan. Yeah you see, we actually did find Red. She's right here with us, hiding behind the bushes to come out and surprise you." The vampire sneered. "No, you nitwit! The plan was to find her and we didn't, so no, it didn't go according to the bloody plan!"

Being the closest, Giles moved quickly to hold back Xander when he tried to launched himself on Spike. "If you two can't shut up and actually do something to help, leave! We don't have time for your bloody children tantrum!" Snapped angrily Giles as his gaze went from the vampire to Xander, daring them to answer back.

He sighed in disappointment as he released Xander, but not before squeezing his arm as a silent warning. Giles stood straighter and, after one last glare at the smirking vampire, turned to Margaret. "Were you able to sense or feel anything?"

Miss Harkness sat beside Callie and started massaging her knees, sore after having spent several hours walking around town. "I'm afraid not, Rupert. The witch and the warlocks must have cast some major cloaking spells to managed to keep themselves from us."

Callie nodded, her eyes reflecting her exhaustion and dejected state of mind. "We patrolled every cemetary and disaffected buildings on the north side of the town, there was no magickal trace or anything that showed any recent activity in the area. Only some stray cats."

Wary glances were exchanged between the men and the witches as Callie explained the fruitless evening. "Yes, well, maybe we should head back home then. It'll rain soon, no need to stay here and get soaked. We'll call Buffy on the way, tell her everything." Giles offered after a particularly big thunderbolt etched of dozens of chalky lines accross the sky, quickly followed by a menacing and much closer series of rumbling.

The small group slowly started walking towards the Summer's home. Everyone but Xander. "What, that's it?!? We searched half the town and now we go home? God knows what Amy or the commandos are doing to Willow right now, she could be hurt, she could be-" The young man shouted with distress, his voice breaking.

With a nod of understanding Giles led Spike and Margaret down the quiet street while Callie hung back with Xander, waiting patiently for him to meet her gaze. She smiled at him tiredly but warmly when he finally did, and put a gently hand on his shoulder. "We are helping more than you think, Xander. I know you are worried, we all are, but you have to trust us on this. We really need to go to your friends's house before we can move on to the next step of the plan."

"You may not trust us, I know Buffy has serious issues with us, well mostly with Maegan, but we really are helping, you'll see, okay?" She hugged him briefly, feeling his surprise at the gesture but nevertheless happy when he accepted it, and returned it shyly.

***************

On the other side of town, Maegan was watching with a bemused expression Buffy talking casually on the phone while swinging her broad sword at full speed before her, effectively beheading a reddish furry demon. Maegan gasped and jump out of the way as the demon head rolled towards her, its big yellow eyes staring vacantly at her.

"You okay?" Asked a considerate Angel. "Good." He concluded hastily before bending down, captured the head by its thick red hair and throwing it high in the air, a satisfied smile on his face when he saw the head sunk in the water almost a hundred feet away.

The witch, the slayer and the vampire were on the last mile of their patrol. Their last stop was the Sunnyvale docks, because of their numerous warehouses and the fact that they a few of them were innocupied at the moment.

The had checked and rechecked every warehouse and building around when the demon jumped out of a important stack of crates near the last ship, an old German merchandise boat. The night had been more than discouraging for all of them, but mostly for Buffy. They didn't actually expect to find Amy's lair easily, but they had at least hoped to discover something, even if it was just the tiniest clue or sign indicating for the redhead's presence somewhere.

Angel glowered good-heartedly at the slayer when he noticed the amused smirk on her face, seemingly very happy to have managed to scare and impress the short-haired wiccan. Buffy was busy cleaning her sword in the water close by when a sharp 'what?!?' startled the vampire, who was swiftly dragging the rest of the demon's body to dump him in the water.

"What is it?" He asked too loudly, kicking the body with enough strentgh to project it in the dark and opaque waters of Sunnydale. Even Maegan, who was still unnerved by the demon slaughter, came closer curiously, however stopping at a respectable distance from the slayer and her very pointy blade.

Both listened attentively as a myriad of emotions flickered on the young woman's face. "We spent the last...six hours to search the whole damn town", she snapped after peeking briefly at her watch, "and all you have to say to me is, 'there was a couple of stray cats?! How is that suppose to help!"

Buffy turned away from the others and run a shaky hand accross her forehead, hissing when her fingers brushed over a still fresh cut. 'Damn that table was hard', she remembered angrily, sighing in relief when she looked at her fingers and didn't see any blood. "Fine. Yes, Giles, we're going home as soon as we finish here. A few minutes, fifteen, I don't know. Yes, we're coming straight home, I promise. Happy?" She answered with a dark expression. "Yeah. Yes, I know! Bye."

Buffy closed her new phone with a snapping sound, barely holding herself back to avoid to throw it in the water. "What did Giles say?" Questionned quietly Maegan. The witch backed off brusquely when Buffy spun around fast, frightening her.

"Don't do that!" Shouted Buffy as she glared menacingly at the wiccan.

"Don't do what?"

Buffy raised her hands and moved them wildly over her head. "Trying to read me! I didn't asked for it and I certainly didn't give you the permission to do it, so knock it off!"

"I wasn't-"

"Of course you weren't, you were too busy not doing anything to help us find my best friend!" Buffy yelled harshly.

Hurt and upset, Maegan clenched her fists tightly at her side. "I did try! It's not that simple to-"

"Ok, enough!" Angel growled. He shook his head sharply, irritation evident on his features. "Buffy, I know you're worried, and scared, but you need to stop trying to bite Maegan's head off every five minutes, she's here to help, remember?"

"And you", he added sternly as he stared at Maegan, lose the 'mightier than thou' attitude. You have no idea how close she is to feed you to a vamp nest, so you better put your powers to work and help us find Willow, or God help me I will be the one throwing you in the demon's den. Are we clear?"

Angel snorted at Buffy's vexed look. "What did Giles said?" He prompted, hoping for any positive news and completely ignoring the death glares the slayer kept sending him.

Buffy sighed for what felt the millionth time that night. Her head and her arms hurt, she was exhausted, crabby and, to top it all, it had just started to rain. 'Great. Just what I needed. Wet flat hair.'

"They're all heading back home. They patrolled the north and east sides but didn't find anything either." She revealed with a quiet voice, her tone tinged with a surprisingly contained desperation.

The rain was falling harder now, soaking wet the small group. Maegan put her jacket's hood over her head and silently asked for Angel to do something. The rumbling of the thunder was almost on them now, and the young witch highly doubted being out in the storm was the brighest idea ever.

Angel watched sadly his ex-lover, who was now completely drenched but did not even seemed to care. Her gaze was lost in the distance, the explanations she was giving the witch and the vampire about the others forgotten.

Angel hated to see her that way, so closed up and distant. It had been this way ever since they left the house, Buffy hardly taking the time to tend the cut on her forehead and begrudgingly agreeing to letting the others to take on patrol as well. 'I was so stupid', recalled Angel. 'They could've gotten all killed. What the hell was I thinking?' He thought, guilt clouding his soft features.

'We really should head back before either of them gets sick', he decided firmly. Angel nudged his chin slightly for Maegan to start walking while he reached softly for the slayer's hand. She tried to remove it from his grasp but Angel just held it tighter until Buffy gave up and let him walk them home.

***************

"They're going to get sick", Commented Dawn as she watched Giles make a new pot of tea. The teenager was sitting on a stool at the kitchen island, her eyes constantly going back at the door.

She prefered to keep her almost father company while the others took care of personal stuff: miss Harkness was taking a shower, Callie was in her room preparing a cleansing ritual for the house, letting Xander and Anya in the living room printing coffee in front of a warm fire that Xander had lit earlier.

Spike had left as soon as they got to the Summers's house, saying he was going to do another sweep of the cemetaries before Buffy arrived with 'Peaches'. The storm was getting worse by the minute and the electricity had flickered more than once already, so Dawn had put out several candles and flash lamps throughout the house in case it would go out completely.

Giles removed the kettle from the hot burner and put the tea leaves in it. He then proceed to take a few cups from the funboard, along with sugar and milk. "They should be here any minute, Dawn." The watcher repeated for the third time in the last ten minutes.

"But Buffy said fifteen minutes, and it's been almost thirty now." Dawn continued, her voice thick with worry. "Something could've happen, Buffy wasn't feeling that good when she left, she-"

"I'm sure they are fine, but you better have towels ready for when they arrive, they're going to need them." He said, hoping having something to do would get her mind off her sister's whereabouts.

Giles sighed in relief when he heard the front door opened soon after, and listened at his slayer who was muttering and pestering at the weather and her now ruined hair. 'Some things will never change, thank the Lord', he chuckled softly.

Dawn squealed on jumped off her stool so fast she almost fell over. "They're here!" She ran in the living room and hastily grabbed the pile of fluffy white towels, ready to give them out to her sister, Angel and Callie but stopped abruptly at the look on the older Summers's girl.

Even through her thoroughly soaked frame, the intensity in the slayer's eyes was startling. While her warm blue eyes were blank and dark before they had left, they were now slightly sparkling and looked more alert than ever.

Buffy lifted her head and stood still when Giles entered the room, their gazes locking instantly. Giles watched her closely, obsivously waiting for her to talk first. Callie was now walking down the stairs, having heard the door slammed a few seconds ago, accompagnied by miss Harkness, who was still holding a towel to dry off her still damp hair.

Everyone held their breath, until a soft yet hopeful voice rose in the air.

"Where did you find her, Giles?"


	26. Chapter 26

Thanks for R & R, feedback is always welcome!

***************

"What do you mean, you don't know where she is?" Buffy exploded.

The slayer had forced herself to remain calm and keep an upset look all the way back home because she knew Giles was there, and because he had news about where Willow was. And now all the hope and relief Buffy had felt for the last thirty minutes were crushed when her watcher spoke the five horrid words. 'We're not sure, exactly.'

Everyone was sitting in the dining room, while Maegan and Dawn were busy in the kitchen preparing tea, coffee and other light snacks. Giles had taken off his glasses but did not dare clean them in fear his slayer would grab them and throw them in the foyer. He enjoyed the blurry view much better anyway. That way the utter look of deception and sadness weren't as heart breaking for the old man.

"We know she's in the northern part of the town, near the old factories. That's it, I'm afraid."

"But, you said the thing about the cats, and that was supposed to mean you'd found her!" Buffy was trying hard to take deep breaths, but her patience was running out fast. "And neither of you sensed nothing, anything? Are you even really as powerful as Giles said you are? 'Cause I'm starting to wonder!" She yelled.

"Buffy-" Xander began.

"No! You're all with the big powers when it's about restraining and draining powers from another witch but now that it's time to use yours to save my best friend, you don't do anything because you're afraid to take risks." Buffy accused the witches.

Callie was hurt by the blonde's ministrations, but if she was completely honest with herself, she would have to admit that, on some level, Buffy was almost right. Almost. "Buffy, you have to understand that, except for Maegan, neither of us has a lot of experience dealing with offensive magicks. I am not even sure that even if we were able to pinpoint Willow's location exactly, we could get to her. Their cloaking spells were strong, any magickal attempt on their territory would sell us to them."

Xander exchanged glances with Giles and Buffy, noticing Dawn and Maegan coming in at the corner of his eye. "See? That's where you're wrong. All you would have to do is a couple of glamours, or find spells to confuse the guards. Anything that will distract them so we can go in and get rid of Amy."

No one talked for several seconds. All the doubt and uncertainties lingered heavily in the air until Margaret cleared her throat. "It is not that easy, Alexander. There is several aspects-"

"No. It is that easy." Buffy voiced, leaning on the door frame. "Xander, Giles, Willow and I spent the last six years fighting evil and giving everything we have to save each other's lives. You think any of it was easy? Think again."

"We've all had our share of pain and injuries. Will, Xander and Giles always had it rougher because they didn't have any slayer strength or healing and yet, they never thought 'Oh we cant do it, it's too hard! They never held back just because there were 'circumstances'." Buffy stood straighter and glared at the witches. "How many times have I told Willow the only way to win was for her to do magicks? More than I'm proud of."

"But she never let me down. Hell, she even forced Osiris into submitting to her in order to bring me back! And now my best friend, _our_ best friend may be dying because you're afraid it might be hard to get to her? If it's the case, you shouldn't even consider yourselves as Wiccans. Because it makes you just as pathetic as Amy."

Xander and Dawn stared at Buffy, incredulous. Giles muttered a 'Good Lord' under his breath and glanced worriedly at the witches. Both Callie and miss Harkness were still too shocked to feel insulted. Callie was gaping at the agitated slayer, who was now ignoring the small crowd to search noisily through her weapon chest.

Callie swallowed back her anger and walked steadily toward the young blonde, glaring at Angel when he made a move to keep her from getting to Buffy.

"I know you hate us. I am hating us as well for some of the things we put your friend through before Giles came up with an alternate solution. But for you to think we wouldn't do everything, that I wouldn't do anything in my power to save her, is simply beyond spiteful."

"Look at me." Callie demanded sternly. When Buffy didn't, the witch inspired deeply and focused her energy on the young woman before her. "I've asked you politely once. And believe me when I say I really dislike having to repeat myself."

Giles, Angel and Xander simultaneously moved to stand between both woman when Buffy lifted her head to shot a murderous glare at Callie. The dark-haired witch rose a hand by her side to keep them from getting closer. Although the slayer was beyond pissed at the moment, she could also see in her eyes a lot of fear and pain, but nothing that could indicate an imminent attack from the girl.

"Buffy", Callie began softly. "I get that you are scared, but it is not a reason to attack us. I am here to help, remember? You know I love Willow, she is like the kid sister I've never had. I took care of her and protected her the best I could, even when others were saying otherwise, even when she didn't want us to."

Callie moved a little to the left so Buffy could focus on her and not on Maegan, who was recoiling under the slayer's stare. "I don't exactly know how hard it was for you here, but it was really hard for her. I kept helping her so she could get better and return to her home, her family, even when I didn't know for sure if she was going- 'great Callie. Reassure her and then frighten her to death', the witch realized angrily as she saw all colors drain from the slayer's face.

She took a big breath and rushed to avoid another fight the the young woman. "All I want to say is that we are here for her, and for all of you. We want to help and we will, I promise. We just need to find other options, that's all." She finished somewhat lamely.

"There isn't any other way to locate her?", asked Dawn shyly. "I mean, there must be a way to find her if we take a detour, maybe they won't expect that."

"There could be a way." Announced Maegan, surprising everyone. "What? I am not always an arse, you know."

Miss Harkness was the first to talk. "What are you thinking about, dear?"

Maegan all of a sudden felt smaller as everybody looked expectedly at her. "It's not what you're thinking, miss. I just mean that, maybe, we could try looking for something that doesn't belong."

Dismissing the 'huh?' look that was on most faces, Maegan continued. "We'd need something that is currently with Willow but does not belong to her. Maybe, that way, we could do a tracing spell that could lead us to said object without attracting that bitch's attention."

"Miss Tornwood!"

"Maegan!" Exclaimed miss Harkness and Callie at the same time. "Watch that mouth!"

"What! They are, they could have killed us all!"

Buffy watched distractely the bickering, her mind racing trying to find something that could be use to trace Willow. "Damn it!"

All voices died down immediately. "What? What is it?" Wondered Angel nervously.

"It's just, everything Willow was wearing was either new, or hers." Buffy revealed annoyingly while fiddling with her favorite broadsword.

"Oh."

"Are you sure? Not even a little something? A sock, make-up, a ring, anything?" Insisted Callie with an enthusiasm she didn't feel.

Buffy grunted in frustration and dropped her sword on the floor, its metallic thud echoing in the room when it reached the hard wood floor. "Yes I'm sure! I think I'd know what my best friend is wearing!"

Anya's face lit up in understanding. "Oh, because you helped her get dressed! That way you know exactly what she's wearing, or not." The former demon stated cheerfully.

"Anya!" Xander and Dawn both warned.

Buffy ignored purposefully what was going on around her. She refused to believe there was absolutely nothing Willow had with her that couldn't be used. 'The bracelet? Nah, it was new when I sent it to her, if it's still with her.'

Buffy frowned at the tinkling sensation at the nape of her neck. 'Stupid tag', she muttered as she reached the back of her sweater to rip the offending tag off. Her intentions were cut short when her fingers brushed against something cool.

Her eyes widening in recognition, Buffy glanced at the young witch. "Hum, Maegan, do you think that tracing spell could be used backwards?" She asked hopefully as she slowly grasped the delicate golden necklace that stayed with her ever since Willow had gave it to her.

Dawn gasped in surprise and rushed to her sister, knowing the necklace had belonged to Tara. "Where did you get that?" She urged, her hand reaching for it but only to have Buffy swap her hand away. "She gave it to me last week, okay?"

Maegan came closer to take a look at the piece of jewelry. "It is hers?"

"Not exactly", explained Buffy quietly. "It was...it was Tara's, but Will put a protection spell on it a while ago. She told me she wanted me to have it, that it could protect me since..."

Buffy released the necklace from the crook of her neck and gently put it in the spiked-haired witch's hand. "Can you do something with it?" She almost pleaded. She glanced around, and seeing how upset her sister was, joined her on the couch and wrapped her arm around the teenager's shoulders.

The group saw the hint of a genuine smile lighting Maegan's features for the first time since the witches' arrival. "I'd need to check a few things, but it might do the trick."

***************

'Where do you think you're going? Demanded an exhausted Sam to a tall, blond haired soldier. She was still wearing the clothes from earlier, and she was finally on her way to her hotel room for a much needed shower, but she still had to go and see if Amy had made any progress with Willow. 'No, their charge', she told herself.

It was hard enough as it is, without constantly remembering the hateful look Willow had shot her when she went to take a look at her a few hours ago. 'It's for her own good', Sam repeated herself for the enieth time since coming back to their quarters. If her boss was overly satisfied over the capture of the witch, learning that the third of the infantry he affected to the Sunndydale mission were either hurt or seriously injured had put a major damper on his mood.

"It's been pretty quiet over there for almost an hour now, so I was just going to take a little break." The soldier breathed nervously, silently begging to not being send back in the east corner where their hostage was held.

Sam sighed and dismissed him with a scowl. The blonde soldier left promptly, walking his way out as fast as he could. "Tell agent Shelly he is expected to be here in fifteen minutes!" She added loudly before the man was too far out to hear. Sam heard a distant 'yes ma'am!' quickly follow by a door being slammed.

The woman winced and leaned against the wall for a moment, counting slowly in her head until the searing pain in her back faded to a dull ache. Sam took a deep breath and pushed herself straight to resume her walk toward the containment room. 'Man, for a bunch of civilians they sure know how to fight', she reminisced darkly.

She knew taking Willow away wouldn't be easy, but Sam had clearly underestimated the rest of Buffy's friends. She had taken quite a good pounding from Buffy, but she didn't expected the short brunette, 'Anya?' to be so bold. 'I'm pretty sure I still have a frying pan imprint in my lower back', the young woman grunted.

Sam frowned upon arriving near the room. It was quiet. Way too quiet for her own taste. She knocked firmly and entered without waiting for any response.

"What are you doing?" She heard from behind her, startling her. Sam spun to find herself nose to nose with a tired and strained looking Amy. 'Guess I'm not the only one having a crappy day'.

"Was that a way to talk to your superior?"

Amy snorted at Sam's remark, but quickly recovered when she remembered that the woman had in fact the power to throw her back in a cell if she really wanted to. "Um, no ma'am, I'm sorry. I was just, you know, taking a break?"

Sam turned half-way in the door to glare angrily at the witch, and so she could either force, or prevent Amy to get in the room. 'Depends what she's gonna answer me', the woman decided. "What is it with you people and breaks? Was there a bell announcing it was time for recess?" She shouted, exasperated.

"I'm tired. Do you have any idea how much juice it takes to break the binding spell they put on her?" Amy whined. "And I'm not even close to get to it." She mumbled with an annoyed tone.

"You're not? What the hell were you doing in there for the last six hours?!?" Shouted Sam. She stared at Amy disbelievingly, her mind wondering, not for the first time today, how on earth the young witch had ended up in her team for this mission. 'We have several qualified warlocks and witches, but no, they chose to go with an unstable dark-magick crack-head'.

The smug smile Sam received from Amy did nothing to soothe her nervousness. "Well, after I spent like two hours trying to break the spell any way I could think of, I decided to go deeper and do a little study case of the spell instead. Isn't what you guys all love so much, study?

"Anyway, it's simply crazy to see how those witches managed to contain that much power without killing her." Amy glared toward the inside of the room. The clear jealousy regarding Willow started to worry Sam. 'What the hell did she do in there...'

"So much power..." The muttering of the witch didn't go unnoticed by Sam and it made her realize, not too late she hoped, to take actions against Amy, even if it meant getting a sanction from her bosses later.

"You received no authorization to perform such a thing! You were sent here, God knows why, to break through the subject's defenses because of your history with her. Since you clearly failed, your access to this room and the subject will be therefore denied."

Sam raised her hand before Amy could argue. The former rat took a step back and kept her hands clear by her side to show she meant no harm. "Okay, first? You have no right to shut me out because you hate me. Secondly, even your warlock won't do better than me, especially after the blow he took today and thirdly", Amy continued calmly, I am the one who decides when I've had enough with Red."

Taking Sam completely by surprise, Amy grabbed the woman by her shirt and pulled her hard out of the room and shoved her on the opposite wall.

Stunned by the unexpected attack and the fresh wave of pain it brought back to Sam's back when she hit the wall, she didn't have time to react before Amy litteraly jumped inside the room and slammed the door in her face.

Sam heard her mumbling several words in latin and cursed when the door suddenly glowed for a second. She knew even before she took a swing at the door she wouldn't be able to open it now that it was magickally sealed.

"Have fun trying to get me out now, soldier!" Amy snarled, leaving Sam reaching for her cell phone and swiftly dial a number.

"Your psycho witch just locked herself with the Rosenberg girl. Get me a warlock here to take her out, now!"

'Now we're doing it my way.' Sam turned around and trotted back to her office to put her plan B in place, cringing when muffled screams rose from the now impenetrable room.

***************

Spike was on his way back to the Summers house to tell the others about his latest find. He had discovered where the redhead was being held, because of the total lack of stealthiness of a soldier. 'Stupid nimwit', Spike smirked.

Spike was doing another round of the town when he saw a soldier coming out of the disaffected building a few blocks down the old high school. Spike didn't recognized the man, but he was still wearing part of his camouflage fatigues. 'Well, well, well...'

The vampire grinned as he watched the man unsuccessfully trying to lit up his cigarette.

Taking out his own lighter and cigarettes, Spike crossed the street and lit up one of his own casually, never glancing toward the young man or the building. He only stopped when a clear voice called out to him for a light.

The vampire had walked slowly over to the soldier and loaned him his lighter while taking a few quick looks around. He knew he had found not only the quarters of Sam's squad but also where Willow was when his vampiric hearing caught dampened cries coming from above. Willow's cries. It had taken everything control the vampire had not to barge in at that moment. Which is why he had over patiently waited for the man to finish lighting his cigarette before excusing himself and head off back to Buffy's.

The sight that welcomed him as he turned on Revello Drive sent him to hide in the bushes. Two black SUVs were parked three houses down Buffy's. The tinted windows made it hard for Spike to discern who were in the cars but, after squinting for a few seconds, the silhouettes finally started to make sense. 'You've got to be bloody kidding me...'

***************


	27. Chapter 27

Sorry, it's been longer to put the update together. Hopefully the next ones will be finished sooner. Thanks for R & R!

Rated M for some language.

***************

Buffy sighed impatiently from her place on the bed. She didn't even bother apologizing this time, since no one would believe its sincerity. She watched Maegan prepare herself for what would be the third locater spell of the last hour, not understanding why she had to stop and isolate herself in the bathroom for several minutes between each spell.

Callie, from her seat in the corner of Buffy's bedroom, also observed Maegan as well as Buffy. She could tell the slayer was getting antsy, and it would do no good for Maegan to progress if the young woman started to pressure her even more. "Buffy, honey, why don't you go downstairs a little, see if everyone is okay?"

Okay, wrong way to approach her", noted Callie at the glared she received from Buffy. "I just meant, maybe it would be easier for Maegan to concentrate if-"

"She didn't constantly tried to make me feel like I'm an incompetent?" Maegan blurted out rather annoyingly. "I simply can't understand how Willow managed to cast anything with you around. You are a real pain in the butt, you know that I hope?"

Buffy snorted. "She never had any problem with me being there." She scowled at the young witch. "But maybe it's because she was actually able to get results before we could die of inanition." 'Maybe not at first, but after a while, she _was_ good.'

"You want me to get results? Stop breathing down my neck like a scrawny vampire!"

"Scrawny?!? I-well, stop going to bladderville every two minutes and I'll stop harrassing you!" Buffy snapped. 'Whoah. Bladderville? That's lame, Summers.'

Maegan ran her hands through her face as she tried to calm down. "I need to cleanse myself after each spell. The energies in this town are foul, so it makes it harder to get any result that aren't tainted by any darkness. You want me to find your friend? Leave me alone!"

"Fine!" Buffy stood up furiously and headed to the door. "It's good to know you're so good at working under pressure! I can't wait to see how you're going to explain to Willow that the reason it took so fucking long to find her was because you had to cleanse yourself every five minutes while she's-she's-" The slayer bit her lip and, with tears in her eyes, slammed the door on her way out.

Callie thought of going after Buffy to either try to calm her down, or yell at her, but she knew she wouldn't be the right to do that right now. Besides, Maegan was the one who needed he most reassurance.

The witch left her position near the window and took the slayer's place on the bed. "Just focus on what you do best, Mae. Go with the flow, don't be so nervous." Callie softly spoke, never letting her eyes wander away from the Sunnydale map spread on the ground.

***************

Willow was dying. Or at least she felt like it. The redhead was struggling to keep breathing even though the acute pain in her ribs and inside made every intake of breath feels as if someone had crushed her ribcage in pieces.

With a last grunt she managed to push herself up to a more or less sitting position. 'Yay me'. She praised herself, not without stiffling a whimper. 'I never thought that sitting could be that painful', Willow concluded, wincing when she inadvertedly let her head rest against the brick wall a little too harshly. 'Ow. That was so not a good idea, but it's still better than laying there helpless'.

She decided it was all worth it when, after bending her knees and bringing them close to her chest with strenuous efforts, the redhead was able to rest her left arm on them, finally releasing the pression off her shoulder.

She ackwardly ran the tip of her casted hand over her cuffed wrist before letting out a relieved but shuddering breath when she could feel the broken skin, but didn't find any blood.

The migraine that threatened her for the past hours was now coming on at full force and, combined with the waves of dizziness resulted from her short but exhausting physical efforts, Willow felt like she was going to fall off the wall any second now. 'Fall off the wall? Ugh. That's smart, Willow.'

Willow briefly opened her eyes, only to shut them close again. The room was dark and, except for a table and a couple of chairs at her right, it was completely barren. There was nothing to watch, no other escape other than the door to her right. Moreover, the small ray of light coming from underneath the door kept sending sharp jabs of pain in her head everytime her eyes trailed over there.

'All that matters right now is that I am sitting, I can feel my left arm again and psycho bitch is gone. I wish.'

Willow had no way to tell how long Amy had been gone or, more importantly, how long she had been stuck in the dingy room. She calculated that it must have been several hours, maybe even a day. It was hard to determine with accuracy since she knew she had lost consciousness a few times.

'Maybe Amy took a wrong turn somewhere and now she's trapped in a cell with a hundred starved vampires', the witch hoped. She had discovered a new side of Amy she had no idea existed , a side she never wanted to know existed, ever since Willow was taken from her house. 'Huh, now it's _my_ house. Not just Buffy's, or Summers's, _my_ home. Why did I need the bitch playing doctor with me to realize that?

Surprisingly enough, right now Willow was grateful for the strong binding the Coven had put on her. Amy couldn't even put a dent in it. All it did was to tremendously piss off the brunette witch.

Willow slowly eased her right hand on the icy floor, wishing she could bend her wrist to relieve some of the tension that was crippling it. Leaning more fully on the wall she let her chilled and restrained fingers softly brush the sand on the floor. She found an odd source of comfort in feeling the soft grains against her skin, like somehow, it was a faint but still true reminder that she was alive, and still in some control of herself.

Tears sprung to her eyes when she thought of the imminent return of Amy. She didn't want to see her again. She didn't her to get close to her again but, above all, Willow did not want Amy to touch her ever again.

The redhead felt dirty. She never imagined a friend could do this to another. Both girls had their differences, but they always had been good friends. Until... 'no, Rack and deratting Amy a few years later than expected definitely can't justify what she's done.'

Amy had fun blasting her with magicks for what seemed hours to the redhead, as a futile attempt at make her lose control. Willow would have snorted if she wasn't in much pain. 'I spent months with people scared that I would lose it again, but ever since I came back it's like there's a freaking contest as to see who's gonna make me lose it first.' The redhead ruminated with a growing irritation.

The dark magickal energies Amy forced Willow with were nothing comparing to what the former rat had planned for her next. The blasts in themselves couldn't hurt the redhead much since the binding had been pretty thorough, and because Callie had the sense to add a protection spell during the procedure. At first at least.

The magickal blasts left the redhead's body tingling in an unnerving sort of way at the beginning. It then spread from her thighs to her shoulders, only to, after a while, steadily expand to her arms and legs until her whole body would sting for several minutes after each assault. That was when Willow had started to faint , her body getting dangerously close to the exhaustion point.

The redhead got really scared soon after because, after receiving a rather nasty magick bolt, she felt her entier body go completely numb, making it impossible for her to even sense her own heartbeat for over a minute before losing consciousness. Willow had fought back tears of gratitude when she had woken up, even if it was to see Amy's face.

But that was when Amy changed tactics. Willow had watched warily the former rat close the distance between them at a slow pace until both girls were inches apart. Amy had smiled crookedly at her before brushing her fingers over Willow's casted hand.

"It must be horrible for you, losing the use of your good hand over a stupid fight. You know, I must admit something, Willow. You're stronger than I thought. I never would've thought you could beat the Kraskyen demon. Especially not Jared... Come on, the leader of the pack? There's no way you don't remember him." Amy had shouted angrily upon seeing the utter look of confusion of the redhead.

"He was supposed to have fun with you and bring you back to me."

"But you had to screw everything up and kill him and the others! Do you have any idea how long it took me to convince the Jerk squad to send another demon pack here? And, to top it all, you still are so scared to stand on your two feet that you let a bunch of lame-ass witches put you on a leash!"

Willow knew she should have tried to defend herself when she saw Amy lean too close on her, but she was still recovering from the last magick blast, and so she didn't have time to react in time.

"I should've known the binding wouldn't break that easy but don't worry, I have another plan. I just need to find the leash, and your power will be mine." Amy snickered as she put her hand over Willow's chest to magickally reach inside of her and elicinga excruciating scream from the redhead.

Willow shuddered badly at the memories. Amy had proceed to inspect every fiber of the spell, clearly hoping to find a way to take control over it. The witch's magickal invasion had left the redhead deeply upset with the overwhelming feeling she had just been used as a vulgar lab rat. If she concentrated enough, Willow could swear she could still feel Amy probbing inside of her with her rough, cold and soiled energies.

'Where the hell is Buffy?' She wondered anxiously probably for the hundredth time. 'How come a slayer, two vampires and three witches aren't competent enough to find me?'

Willow's thoughts were broken off abruptly when the door opened. She had to shut her eyes tight so she wouldn't get blinded by the harsh light coming from the artificially light hallway, but it didn't take her long to identify the voices. 'Sam...and Amy.' She cringed.

Her foggy mind couldn't quite make out the words the two brunettes were exchanging, only that Sam seemed to be very angry. "...one who decided when I've had enough with Red."

Willow's eyes snapped open at hearing Amy's tone. She felt even before seeing it the magicks being gathered by the girl, and watched sullenly the door being magickally sealed. 'Oh crap, that can't be good...'

Amy chuckled at her newest trick and flicked the ceiling lights on before turning to the redhead, surprised evident on her face when she saw she was awake. "Oh, goody! Look who's up!"

Amy ignored the redhead's groan when she kneeled next to her and gently cupped her face. "You almost got me scared, you know? You wouldn't wake up! But look at you now, with the sitting and everything!" The brunette cheered with a hypocrit smile brightening up her features.

"Maybe you should consider to stop with the playing and get the hell away from here. Sam looked really pissed." Willow babbled in a blur as she desperately wanted Amy away from her. "Although I'd love to see her take you down."

The brutal slap sent Willow's head to bounce against the wall. She clenched her jaw painfully to keep the tears from falling as the left side of her face burned badly. She glared at Amy with venom in her eyes. "That's all you got? Wow. I'm starting to see why Rack liked me better."

'Oh that was so stupid, Rosenberg!' Willlow yelled inwardly, cringing at the blow she knew would be coming again. She hesitantly opened her eyes when she realized Amy hadn't hit her yet.

Amy towered over her, smirking. "That's your big plan, pissing me off to distract me while sergeant bitch and her lackeys are planning their little operation?"

"You're right though, I really shouldn't waste my time. 'Cause I discovered something, Willow. I may not be able to break through the binding, but it's only because I don't have to break through it. I only have to force you into breaking it yourself. Well, how 'bout we take a little tour inside, shall we?"

Willow didn't have time to move before Amy shoved her hand back on the redhead's head.

Willow's screams could be heard well beyond the sealed room.

***************

"I've found her!"

Maegan was rushed back downstairs, Callie on her heels. Buffy jumped up from her place on the couch, dropping unceremoniously a small battle axe on the floor. "Where is she?"

Seven pair of eyes turned expectedly to the young spike-haired witch. "I was able to trace her energies back to a building on the 28th avenue. Looks like it's close to a school."

The room suddenly burst alive with several ranges of voices saturating the air. "The old bakery! It's only three blocks away from the old high school!" Uttered an excited Anya.

"Are you absolutely sure, Maegan?" Demanded Giles firmly. "There are several buildings and houses on that street."

Callie raised the map they had been working with. A small red spot was softly glowing neatly in the corner west side, right above the old bakery. The woman grined slightly as she felt the shift of energies in the room. There was still a great deal of anxiety, but waves of bright and radiant energies were now flowing all around the living room, nearly overwhelming the witch.

Focusing back on the rest of the group, she noted gratefully that they were already starting to plan Willow's rescue. Both witches watched Buffy, Giles and the others discuss about sewer systems and blue prints of the building with matching astonished expressions. "So that was what Willow had been talking about, what she was doing here with them?" Asked Maegan with an unusual reserved tone.

"Yes, I believe it is. Except most of the time they were planning on saving the world. World that we all are living in, so maybe you should think about that a bit more next time before being condescending at any of them."

The young spike-haired witch gulped nervously at Angel's unespected and stern response. She glanced at Callie, sho calmly nodded before gently pat her on the arm and leave to join miss Harkness's side.

"I found her!"

Everybody turned around sharply to eye a surprisingly disheveled Spike. No one said anything, awating for the vampire to elaborate. It didn't take long for him to lose patience. "Are you all deaf? I just I know where Red is, you bloody airheads!"

Less than a second later his face darkened and he rolled his eyes in understanding upon seeing the map, still being clutched tightly by Callie. "Oh bollocks. You've found her already! You could've said something, you know!" He glared angrily at Buffy.

Buffy ignored the vampire's cranky attitude to focus on what really mattered at the moment: find Willow. "Where, and how you find her?"

"The old bakery on 28th?" He explained distractly, acknowledging the general glances the group exchanged at his words. "A stupid bloke came outside to smoke, asked me to light him up. The bloody idiot was still wearing his fatigues."

No one noticed Spike's slight twitch when he spoke, but it didn't go unnoticed by Buffy. "What's going on, Spike?"

"Nothing. If you all know where she is, then why the bloody hell are you still here?!?" He fumed, smirking when Maegan recoiled under his furious behavior.

The vampire cursed under his breath when Buffy closed in on him threateningly. "Spike..." she growled.

"Fine." Last thing Spike wanted is to get staked by the slayer because he didn't want to cause her more pain. He calmly met her concerned eyes, his gaze never wavering, his voice soft and serious, barely audible for humans. But it wasn't a problem for Buffy. "When I got close to the building, I heard muffled noises. Screams. Or rather cries. They were Willow's.

Spike fidgeted nervously as Buffy stared hard into his eyes. He watched as her face hardened and her body became as tight a steel. "We're going. Now!"

The slayer spun menacingly back to the bleached vampire when he cleared his throat. "What!"

"There's something else you should know." He started to explain when a subtle but high pitched noise rang throughout the house. The witches, Buffy and both vampires promptly covered their ears at the irritating noise. "What the hell is that?" Yelled Angel, frowning at the seemingly unaffected part of the group.

"The warding's off. Someone is coming!" Miss Harkness pointed out before mumbling a few words in latin. The noise stopped, the welcomed silence only broken by a bunch of relieved sighs.

"That's what I was about to say. The Council's here." Spike muttered.

***************

Amy fell backwards, breathless. "Wow, I must say Rosenberg, that's some twisted mind you have there." She snorted, impressed but frustrated at the same time.

"I've heard you went all out to bring Buffy back, but that was wicked!" She exclaimed breathily, her eyes widening at the confirmation of the horrendous amount of powers the redhead possessed.

When Willow didn't answer or even glanced at her, Amy scoffed and sat in silence to listen intently at what was happening beyond the door. Sam was without a doubt yelling at some poor soldier. No shamans were available yet, the defensive attack the witches had put them up against having draining them.

Amy chuckled and focused back on her main interest: the redhead in front of her. "Come on, did I hurt you that bad?" She asked too sweetly.

The rogue witch observed her former friend as she sluggishly opened her unfocused eyes to glare in the direction where she thought Amy was. She had to admit that she possibly had push a little too hard: Willow's face was drawn, her eyes sunken and darker than usual, and Amy could see she was trying hard to control her shaking body.

'She's exactly how I used to look like after a night at Rack's.' The witch pondered absently.

The truth was that Amy had some difficulty letting go of the redhead's energy flow. She got overwhelmed pretty quickly after joining their magicks together, and she had to spent the first several minutes fighting her erratic energies to regain control of herself.

Being with Rack always gave her a tremendous high, but a controlled one since the warlock was never very generous about donating his magicks: He much prefered take rather than give.

But with Willow...it was like entering an "all you can eat" magickal buffet. Amy had never felt so much power, and because the redhead couldn't control much of her energies at the moment, Amy had almost been caught in the whirlpools of raw emotions and pain Willow was experiencing.

She had witnessed, and felt, so many spells that the redhead had performed over the years, the biggest being feeling Willow channeling Osiris to bring back Buffy.

The soft ruffling of fabric brought Amy back to the present, and stared curiously at Willow, who had closed her eyes again.

"What do you say we switch places, I'll show you what it feels like." She mumbled, her voice harsh from the crying and screaming.

"Nah, I like my side better. And besides, I'm not done yet. I'm dying to see exactly how you almost destroyed the world. I can't wait to feel the rush." She smirked as she stood up and walked over the left side of the room.

Willow groaned in annoyance as she caught brief sounds of objects being moved around not too far away from her. It wasn't long before footsteps softly echoed as Amy was coming back her way. She backed as much as she could against the wall, futile and useless as it may be. 'There's no way I am letting her touching me again.' The redhead shivered painfully.

She eyed Amy suspiciously and bent her right leg, promising herself she would kick her with all her might if she tried anything again. Her plan was abruptly cut short though when the brunette appeared in front of her, holding two bottles of water. She shook one of them teasingly while taking a big gulp out of the other. "You want some? Unbend that leg."

Willow stared at the bottle. 'Do I really need it?' She wondered. The constant choking everytime she swallowed gave her a clear, yet unwanted answer. 'Damn it.'

The redhead hated the smug look on Amy's face as she slowly stretched up her legs enough so the witch wouldn't feel threatened anymore. Then she watched Amy kneel by her side, open the bottle of the precious liquid and bring it to her mouth.

Willow bit back a moan as the tap water smoothed down her parched throat. She gratefully took several gulps before Amy took the bottle away from her. "Sorry, that's all for now but be a good girl and I'll give you some more." She commented casually.

A heavy silence filled the room, only rythmically interrupted by muffled shouts from the hallway. Willow could feel Amy's eyes on her, keeping track on her every move, or in this case her every intake of breath.

"Why do you put up with all this shit, Willow?"

Willow raised incredulous eyes on Amy, confused at what she had just heard. "What?"

Amy rolled her eyes and wave her hand in a vague pattern in the air. "You're freakin' powerful, then give up magicks. Then you get back on it to get a the High of a lifetime, only to let yourself being drained by a highly selective and secretive British Coven without even fighting back. That's-"

"I couldn't! I couldn't fight back. Why, do you think I let them tie me up and shoot me with whatever crap they could come up with just for the hell of it?!?" Willow hissed sarcastically.

"Why not? You did give up magicks because it was 'wrong' to cast after you had your little accident with Buffy's sister." The brunette shot bitterly, air quoting the wrong part with her fingers.

Willow was furious. "I almost killed her, Amy! I was losing it, I had to do something!" She yelled before starting to cough painfully, and brought her cast to her mouth to cover it.

The redhead winced and frowned when she glanced at her cast and noticed they were dropplets of a dark liquid on her fingers. 'Oh no. No no no no...' Willow panicked inwardly as she stared at the fresh blood on her hand.

Amy was oblivious of the redhead's alarmingly blanching face, being too busy ranting about the past to realize Willow's distress.

"Yeah, like cutting me out so you could push your sweet, smartass witch to get back to you, right? It worked out well, if I recall. Visited her grave lately?" Amy sneered cruelly.

Willow's casted arm came jerked out of nowhere and took Amy completely by surprise.

The brunette didn't even scream as Willow hit her on the temple with all the strength she had left.

Amy's head hit the cement floor with a small thud, out cold.

Willow gasped and brought her cast close to her chest while tears ran down her cheeks. "Oh fuck that hurt!"

The throbbing pain shooting from her hand was the least of Willow's concern though. Forcing the images of a still Amy on the floor off her mind, the redhead focused on something else.

Something that terrified Willow if Amy happened to wake up before she had the smallest chance to recover, but something that sent Willow to grin faintly for the first time in days.

Willow opened her eyes, a tiny but genuine sparkle lightening up her emerald irises as she slowly felt hope rise in her. Amy had breached the binding.


	28. Chapter 28

Sorry about the shortness of the update, next one will be longer.

Disclaimer: see first chapter.

***************

The soft clinking sound the metallic cuff made as it fell on the floor was definitely Willow's favorite sound of the day. She exhaled slowly and, opening her eyes, indulged herself a little smile as she glanced happily at her newly freed wrist.

She flexed her hand a couple of times, sighing in relief when she could finally feel the familiar prickling sensation of her blood rushing back in her hand and fingers . Both of her hands came to rest on her knees as she debated her next move.

There was no way to be sure how much magicks she could use without aggravating her condition, but there was also no way in hell that she was going to stay there and wait in case Buffy decided to show up.

Willow stared crossly at Amy, but forced herself to take deep breaths as she felt her anger rise dangerously inside. Centering herself as best as she could, Willow tentatively reached around her to try and assess the situation. 'Four guards outside the door, one pissed-off warlock, one-wait. Oh crap, the warding Amy put on the door is down.' Willow frowned. 'Why hasn't he noticed it yet?'

Willow began whispering another warding spell, but she stopped abruptly when she felt she sudden change in the warlock's energies. 'He knows it's down. He knows, but he's not doing anything...'

Focusing her energies solely on him, the redhead gasped as she realized that if he had known about Amy's spell, he also knew about her.

"Bastard." His plan was became clear as crystal in Willow's head as she franctically raked her brain to come with a new plan. 'Sam should be careful about who she works with', pondered annoyingly Willow. 'The ward's been down for over ten minutes but he didn't do anything about it 'cause he felt I was bind-free and wants a go with me.'

Shivering against the cold room and the disturbed thoughts that now swirled in her mind, Willow sighed anxiously as she faced the evidence. She couldn't wait and take the chance that someone would come anymore. Amy could wake up any minute, just like Sam and her warlock could barge in any second.

Pushing herself shakily on her knees, Willow leaned against the wall to get herself up, but her knees buckled, sending her unceremoniously on the floor. Willow let out a painful whimper when she landed on her already injured hands.

Willow stared angrily at the ceiling as she carefully pushed herself back onto a more or less sitting position. 'Like it wasn't hard enough to escape before?!?' She raged.

Unless Buffy and the others rushed through that door in the next few minutes, she wouldn't have the choice but to pull some major magicks again if she wanted a chance at surviving past this.

Willow let out a tremelous breath, suddenly wishing she could have stayed in England longer. Everything would have been so much simpler if they would've had managed to strip her powers from her permanently, like they wanted.

'Like I wanted...' Willow rubbed her eyes and cheeks with her sleeve, and grimaced slightly when something cold brushed against her cheek. Her eyes widened when she took in the bracelet Buffy had given her last summer.

Willow stared at the numerous colorful stones that ornated the small piece of jewelry. Each stone was of a different color, all corresponding to the birth date of every member of her family. Willow grinned faintly as her right fingers gently grazed every stone: Xander, Buffy, Dawn, Joyce, Giles, Anya, herself, Tara, and even Jenny was accounted for.

Her heart ached at the memory of the day she had received it. She was still in England and it was the day she had her first magick lesson with miss Harkness. Giles had kept the present from Buffy and the gang a secret so it would cheer her up at the end of her lesson.

Willow shook more severely as she desperately tried to block flash-backs from that night. It had been a desastrous day. 'That one and the following weeks', she recalled sternly.

The redhead rubbed her hand protectively over her cast and upper arm as she forcefully repressed the upsetting images to the deepest corners of her mind. 'I can't let them down again.'

Forcing herself to push away the exhaustion and pain she was in, Willow glanced once more at her bracelet and, resolve quickly settling on her features, struggled to focus on the most immediate problem: getting the hell out of there.

***************

"Stop being so infantile, Patterson. They are just a bunch of kids."

"Of course. Kids to happen to be a slayer and a witch. A powerful slayer that also happens to be highly protective of said witch." Patterson argued nervously.

The man, a slightly overweighed tall blonde in his thirties, tightened his grip on the small stake he had taken with him. "Why do you think mr. Giles sent her back here so fast? The man stated deadpanned.

Quentin Travers glared at Patterson as both men reached the Summers's house. "We missed our shot this summer. It was unfortunate, but we can't let it happen again. And if they won't listen, well I've found new ways to make them understand." He said grimly, his voice cold and low.

The man knocked on the door but, before he even had a chance to knock a second time, the door opened sharply, startling Patterson."Hey Travers, it's been a while. Not long enough though, don't you think?"

Both men stared at Buffy Summers as she kept the door open with one hand while the other held a large battle-axe. She was smiling but the furious glint in her eyes scared Patterson. He gulped, hating himself when he realized she knew just how scared he was. "Why don't you come in?"

***************

Angel ran through the neighbors's backyards. He could hear Travers and another man reaching the house's porch as he reached the black SUVs down the street. The vampire stayed hidden behind a thick tree and waited for Callie and Maegan to join him. They finally got there a few seconds later, both slightly out of breath. He pointed to one of the cars, indicating two individuals that were sitting up front. "You have to do something about them."

Maegan stared at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

Angel sighed impatiently. "As much as I would love to kill them, I can't. So you will have to do a spell or something to get rid of them!"

"But-"

"It's okay Maeg. I have an idea." Whispered Callie, before focusing on the two individuals in the car. She mumbled a quick incantation and let out a worried breath as the two men's heads suddenly fell forward. "I'm afraid it won't last long, we have to be fast."

Angel went to the car and, after checking for any sign of an alarm, signaled to the witches to come closer. They piled up in the car, Callie taking place next to the vampire up front and Maegan in the back. Angel bent forward, freed several wires from under the dash board and began fiddling with them when the engine suddenly roared to life. He sat back in his seat and stared, surprised, at Callie. "We need to move, they're about to wake up." She explained with a tired grin.

Angel merely nodded before engaging the big SUV on the street. They drove in silence for a few minutes until Callie sighed and glanced at the witch in the back. "What's wrong, Maeg?"

"Nothing." Curtly answered the young wiccan. "We are supposed to use our gift to help and keep a balance in our lifes, not to mess with innocent lifes, but who cares about rules when it's about your precious redhead." She muttered, frustrated.

Both witches grabbed their door handle tightly when the car stopped brutally. Angel turned around and flashed an stared angrily at Maegan. "First, those man, in the car? They're part of the Council, so you can forget about the innocent part."

"Second, so far I think your only gift has been to piss everybody off, which somehow I doubt it could be considered helping. And third", he added as Angel morphed into his vampiric self, "you should ask yourself why so many people are willing to put their lifes on the line to save Willow. Maybe you can't stand her because she actually makes a difference in the world."

The vampire morphed back and gave a cross look at the witch. "Another foul word about Willow or why you have to help her and I will throw you out of that car. Are we clear?" He all but growled.

Angel put the gas pedal down as he sped through the streets of Sunnydale, satisfied of the silence that now filled the car. 'Giles better be right.'

***************

Giles took a deep calming breath before raising his head and locking his gaze with his slayer. Buffy's eyes were burning with rage and hurt. They shone with tears, giving their normal icy blue shade an ethereal look. The watcher cautiously walked over her and gathered her in his arms.

"I'm so sorry Buffy, but I fear it was the only solution." He felt her stiffen in his arms, but refused to let her pull away when she tried. "We will get her back, I promise you. And there will be hell to pay for them. Angel will get her back." He loosened his hold and, sniffing quietly, let Buffy take a step back.

Giles watched the concerned looks he was getting from the rest of the group, and sighed dejectedly. "What are we going to do about Travers?" Demanded Dawn.

The watcher rubbed his cheek absently while he thought of Quentin Travers and his lackey, who were probably just seconds away to knock at the door now. "Just trust me, and follow my lead."

Giles glanced once more at Buffy, and put a gentle hand to her shoulder. "I know you wanted to go, Buffy, but I have faith in Angel. He'll do everything to keep her safe."

The old man chuckled at the incredulous look his slayer gave him. "Yes, I do realize how weird that comment was, expecially coming from me. Come on now, how about you take your anger on Travers, huh?"

'Oh, bloody hell.' Giles sighed as he took in the predatory glare Buffy shot in direction of the door. He really hoped, he thought as he heard the expected knock at the door, that his plan wouldn't backfire with desastrous results.

***************

It wasn't long before the abandoned building could be see by the vampire and the witches. Stopping a block away, both Callie and Maegan got out and went to hide in the bushes as Angel left to park the car near the building's side entrance, so anyone inside could see its immatriculation easily.

The vampire got out of the car and took an unnecessary breath. Then he slowly but firmly walked toward the door, remembering what Giles had said before he left.

'Giles stood, facing the young adults he had now come to consider his children, and began to voice his mind. "I thought of an idea to get Willow out of there. It is kind of far-fetched, but it's the best I could think of at the moment." He finished turning toward Angel, who held his gaze curiously.

"Angel. I think the best chance we have getting to Willow back is if you go there alone."

"What?!?" Erupted from everywhere. Giles raised his hand to hold off all protests and resumed his plan.

"You are the only one Sam never met, she didn't get to see you during the fight. You look older than any of them, and I believe you can undoubtedly intimidate any soldier there, and especially Sam. You know who they are, and about the Council. If I guessed right, they will let you in without opposing any resistance, -"

"Wait. You want me to screw them by pretending to be part of the Council? Just walk in, say I need Willow for whatever reason and walk out with her? That's never going to work, Giles!" Angel objected.

"Maybe it could, considering Giles scared her about having the Council taking actions against her. And since the Council is really here...I'm impressed, Giles!" Anya exlaimed happily.

"No."

Giles held his breath and turn to face a furious slayer. "Buffy-"

"Don't Buffy me, Giles, I want to go. I have to go." She pleaded with him, the tone of her voice contrasting with the anger that swirled in her eyes.

Spike glared at his Sire and at the watcher. "Yeah, why does Peaches have to be the one going? I'm the one who found her, I should be the one going." He snarled.

"Sure, let's sent the neutered vampire, that'll go well." Angel commented coolly.

Buffy observed the escalading arguments that were quickly threatening to turn into an ugly fight. As much as it hurt her to admit it, Giles had a point. They would be waiting for her or anyone else, but they wouldn't be expecting Angel. Pushing her ego aside, knowing that what mattered right now was to get her best friend back, Buffy took a deep breath. "Enough!"

Everyone stopped instantly, frozen at the deafening warning. "Angel, can I talk to you in the kitchen?" '

Snapping back to the present, Angel wondered if Buffy had revealed any part of her plan to the others after he had left, accompanied of two weary witches.

He could hear numerous footsteps coming from inside but, other than that, everything was quiet. Angel braced himself as he felt someone approaching the door and opening it even before he had the chance to knock.

"Showtime."


	29. Chapter 29

Sorry it's been so long without updates. Sorry this chapter isn't very long, but the next will follow soon. Same goes for Recovering. Hope everybody spent a great Holiday!

Rated R for some langage. Feedback and reviews are always welcome!

***************

Sam watched, frustrated, as one of the warlocks stood before the cell, his hands raised inches away from the door. She glanced down at her wrist watch and grunted when she realized that over an hour had already passed since Amy locked had herself in with Willow.

Time was running short. Her superiors had called about forty minutes ago, and Sam had been forced to reveal the monumental failure of the operation. They were now on their way to rectify the situation, much to Sam's humiliation.

They had expressed their profound disappointment about Willow's powers being still out of reach, and Amy having turned her back on them. 'What did they expect? They should've known when they affected the witch to the mission months ago that it would end up badly.'

'At least Riley had the sense to leave for a different organization', she recalled grimly. Her own decision to stay under the wing of the patrons of the former Initiative had cost her a painful divorce shortly after.

Riley had warned her to never enter a mission that could lead to crossing the path of the slayer. But, even though she had heard of the wreckage they had caused when the Initiative went down, she still accepted to take on this case. It would have give her career a tremendous boost.

Sam snorted sardonically at that. 'I should've followed Ry.'

***************

Willow mentally repeated the spell she had come up with to teleport herself out of her cell as she listened carefully to what was happening outside the room. She kept reciting it faster and faster, her lips silently moving along the intricate Latin words that were jumbling in her head. She estimated it would need her five or six seconds to cast the spell, if she talked fast. She never had to talk that rapidly in Latin yet, but there's wasn't much choice. As soon as she would start casting, the warlock outside would most certainly burst in the room to stop her. She wouldn't let that happen. She couldn't.

Willow pushed herself to a more up right position by leaning heavily on her good arm. She cringed as she shot a last look at Amy. 'Wow. I really knocked her out.'

Willow froze when she believed to have notice a slight twitching coming from the witch's left hand, but she quickly dismissed it with a shake of her head. "Ow, okay. No more shaking the broken head." She hissed painfully.

"Don't worry, I'll rip it off for you", croaked Amy, alarming the redhead.

'Uh oh.' Willow watched, stricken, as Amy slowly pushed herself up.

'Showtime.' Both raised their hands at the same time, their intentions clear.

"Scutum!"

"Excudo!"

***************

Angel patiently followed as a short but heavy built soldier lead him, he hoped, to Willow. The vampire knew something was wrong as soon as he had stepped into the old bakery. The nervousness of all soldiers he crossed was palpable, but it wasn't was hit him the strongest. It was the magickal vibes that literally pulsed within the whole building.

It wasn't anything like what he felt when he first went to Buffy's. He could feel Willow's presence but, at the same time, it was much more than that. The atmosphere was cold and vile, and chilled him to the bone.

Angel stiffled a sigh of relief when he finally heard sharp voices, one of which he recognized to be Sam's. "What's going on?" He asked to his guide.

The soldier didn't even bother to turn around as they neared a new area of the building.

"Mrs Finn will answer any questions you may have."

***************

"Are you making any progress or what? You've been feeling that door forever!" Sam snapped, her patience quickly wearing out.

The middle-aged warlock glared briefly at Sam before returning his focus on the door. "I am almost in, m'mam."

Sam rolled her eyes at the sweet tone used by the warlock. She opened her mouth to yell some more at him but her cell phone interrupted her. She yanked it stiffly from her pocket and answered it without even checking the ID caller. "Finn."

"Mm'am, Roberts is on its way to see you. He's with a man. He says he's from the Watcher's Council."

'Fuck.' "Are you certain he's legitimate?"

"Yes, Colonel. We checked the car's immatriculation, and it belongs to a Richard Patterson. He is here under a work visa for a couple of days."

'Double fuck'. "Fine. Guard the front door, make sure no one else enters or gets out. It's an order, Stanley." She added after a short moment.

Sam hung up and glared down the hallway, her nerves getting the best of her. The woman ran her hands nervously over her face as she tried to come up with a strategy. The last thing she needed was to have the Council putting its nose in her business.

Strong footsteps announced the arrival of the Council. Sam strongly wished her bosses wouldn't get there too soon. 'If I fix it before they arrive, maybe they'd change their minds about me.'

Lifting up her chin and straightening her shoulders, Sam walked to the man coming her way to welcome him. "Hi, I am Colonel Sam Finn."

"Patterson." Angel responded sternly. "Where is she?"

"Who?"

Angel stared coldly at Sam until she squirmed and took a step back. "Your actions really disappointed us, miss Finn. I believe mister Giles has warned you about keeping your hands off what's us. Where is she?"

Sam gulped, thinking hard to find a good excuse to explain the last turn of events. Again. 'That guy is creepy', she thought annoyingly. "I'm sorry, but I have strict orders to follow. The witch has to remain under our custody until my superiors gets here."

"Custody? You fucking abducted her. The witch is under our orders, just as the Slayer is. I don't think you realize what you are messing with. We are bigger, stronger and more powerful than you silly little organization will ever be." Angel all but growled at her.

He took a few steps closer, smirking inside when the woman recoiled slightly under his presence. "Don't make me ask my boss to come here himself. He wouldn't be too happy about it."

Sam stood straighter and faced Angel with a new found arrogance. "If the retrival of the witch is that important, why hasn't he come himself to get her? Was he too busy reading some dusty old books?"

"He is dealing with the slayer and her friends right now. So why don't you be a doll and point me to Willow Rosenberg and Amy Madison so I can be on my way." He sneered. "Or I will arrest you and show you how English laws differs from the ones here. _Especially_ Council laws."

"I- huh, I." 'Oh, screw this Sam. Everybody seems to want the damn witch, well just let them have fun trying to get her.' "Fine, you want her? I don't care. Take her. Good luck though, because Madison locked herself in that room an hour ago with your precious witch."

'Shit', Angel cursed as he glanced where the woman was pointing. He closed the distance in seconds, almost forgetting to stay in character. "Why haven't you opened the door yet?!?" He barked at the frustrated warlock.

"Because many spells were cast on that door!" The man shouted back. He looked calm and composed, but Angel frowned upon listening to the warlock's racing heart. He moved around the man and focused attentively on him. Angel could smell a tinge of fear, magicks, of course, but also something else. Excitement.

Something was going on behind that door. The magicks had grown stronger as Angel neared the room but, now that he was standing right next to it, the energies were too stronger to only be dormant ones.

Angel spun around sharply and grabbed the shaman by the throat, and threw him against the wall.

"Hey!" Yelled Sam as she ran to the man's help. She only had time to grasp Angel's duster that a tingle sensation sent her ice cold chills down her spine. Time seemed to froze, until a blinding light immediately followed by an ear-splitting explosion sent the door to explode in dozens of pieces of metal.

The force of the blow forced Angel, Sam and the shaman to the ground, where they tried to protect themselves as best as they could against the deadly projectiles.

"Willow!" Forgetting about the charade, Angel jumped back on his feet and rushed inside the room.

Through the dust and smoke, Angel spotted Amy who was on her back, close to the back wall and to Angel's left. Fear seized him when he didn't see any trace of Willow in the room. Enraged, he charged in Amy's direction and lifted her off her feet, slamming her harshly against the wall. "Where is she!"

Amy's voice could barely be heard under the deafening blaring of the security alarms, but Angel didn't miss anything.

"Fuck you, you- Angel?" She croaked, surprise evident on her face. The witch glanced between the vampire and Sam, who had just made her way into the room. "What the -"

Amy didn't have the chance to finish her sentence before she was shoved on the ground, only to be roughly picked up again by the throat by Angel. "I hate repeating myself, Amy. Where is she!"

Her feet dangling in the air, Amy fought for air. "I don't know, she- she teleported. She mumbled something in Latin and then she was gone!" She hissed weakly.

"Teleportation would never result in an explosion like that." Commented angrily Sam. The woman was furious, and it showed. She eyed Angel suspiciously, realizing she had been fooled. Yet, she refused to call for reinforcement.

"She was under a severe binding when we brought her here, how did she managed to teleport? It would take a tremendous amount of power to break through it, and you simply do not have it, Madison."

Amy shot a murderous look at Sam, but find enough arrogance to smirk. "Who do you think broke it for her? The bitch then knocked me out and pulled a shield around her when I tried to get back to her. The backfiring of the spell caused the explosion, dumb-ass."

Angel had heard enough. He punched Amy on the jaw so hard and fast that neither women saw it coming. The witch crumpled on the ground, unconscious.

Without any hesitation the vampire undid his tie and swiftly bound Amy's wrists with it. He felt Sam's eyes burning a hole in his back, but he didn't care. His main worry at the moment was to find Willow, and take care of Amy. But he needed to take her with him for that, since he had the hunch that her role in the attack and the kidnapping was bigger than they first thought.

Angel lifted her up easily and slid her over his shoulder, his back turned on Sam the whole time. When he finally faced her, the woman's expression was unreadable. He stood his ground, his own eyes locked on the colonel while she obviously debated what her next move should be. Angel could easily neutralize her and take advantage of the chaotic situation to escape before every soldier in the building rushed to the room, but something in Sam's eyes pushed him to wait.

***************

"What's taking him so long?" Whispered worriedly Callie to herself. The witches had been hiding in the bushes for over twenty minutes already, and Callie was growing concerned. 'What if they uncovered mister Angel's true identity, or what if there's something wrong with Willow?'

Maegan answered without opening her eyes, nor moving from her spot under a tall oak tree. "You can't expect him to get in, be all smile and steal their prisoner under their nose in two minutes, Callie."

The younger witch suddenly frowned and tensed. "There's a change in the dark energies."

Callie immediately moved closer to Maegan. "What kind of change?"

"A bad one."

An ear-splitting alarm startled both women. "What the bloody hell is happening!"

Callie quickly left the security of the bushes to get a better look accross the street. "I don't know, but I don't like it, Maeg. Maybe we should go help."

"No bloody way! We have no idea what caused the alarm to go off, and how are we suppose to find the vampire, or Willow in this building? We'd be killed on the spot! We wouldn't be helpful at all, Callie." Maegan promptly explained. "The best we can do right now is-"

Maegan stopped abruptly and, leaning forward heavily, started shaking. "Maegan? Maeg?" Callie called nervously to her friend. "Maegan, sweetie, remember to focus. Let them use you as a conduit so they can go back to the earth."

"That's easy for you to say", rasped Maegan as she took several small breaths to recenter herself. She knew Callie had also felt the radical change of energies in the air surrounding them, but she still hated how more sensible she was to everything.

Knowing Callie was watching her anxiously, Maegan doubled her efforts to regain control of herself and take a reading of the unwelcomed energies.

"Oh Goddess."


	30. Chapter 30

Uploading problems kept me from updating sooner, but there it is. Please remember to review and#or leave feedback, it is always welcome! And if you have suggestions, you are more than welcome to voice ideas and such. 'Cause I am kinda sitting at a crossroad right now about how Buffy and Willow's relationship should go, and if it should go somewhere...

Rated R for some language.

***************

Travers was already in interrogation mode by the time Giles followed Buffy back in the living room. The head man of the Council was talking with the head woman of the Coven, and Giles wasn't too surprised as what they were all witnessing a rather unpleasant match of tennis.

Giles was wondering how to confront his boss about his presence in Sunnydale, or at least he was until Buffy went to stood in front of the fire place to glare more effiently at the man. "Just cut to the chase, Travers. What are you doing here?"

'That's my slayer', Giles smirked internally. Travers glanced at him but, upon the watcher's silence, turned back to Buffy with a slight grin on his face. "I've heard about miss Rosenberg's rather spectacular incident, and so I thought I'd come by to see if everything was fine and if any measures were needed to be taken against the responsable demons."

Everybody in the room jumped at Anya's loud snort. "You came all the way from England to see if a surprisingly small but vicious pack of demons had been killed? You needed three body guards to do that? You could have easily just called."

"Even I lie better than that and I never lie." She muttered at Xander, although loud enough so no one missed it. Xander patted his ex-lover's knee while shoting a nervous look between Travers and the other Scoobies.

Travers's eyes flashed briefly in surprise as he realized the slayer and her civilian friends were already ahead of him. Again. The older man took his time before answering to the accusations, smirking as what he was about to say would cause a much interesting turn of the tables.

The older man rested his back more comfortably on the couch's cushions before locking eyes with Buffy. "Very well then. I believe it is about time you learned some important truths about miss Rosenberg."

***************

Two blocks from the old bakery, Willow appeared out of thin air and collapsed roughly on the ground. The cold and damp grass she could feel on her cheek confirmed the worst. She hadn't made it to her house and, by the looks of it, she was nowhere near Revello Drive.

'Well, by the smell of it', she corrected herself, since her head was throbbing too painfully to even think about cracking an eye open.

The redhead groaned as she laboriously tried to push herself to a sitting position. Having no strength left, her arms shook badly under the effort before they simply gave up on herand sent her back to kiss the ground.

Willow ignored the pain and slowly open her eyes as to attempt to see where she had mistakenly landed. Not noticing anything familiar beside trees and lamp posts, she curled up the best she could on her side and tiredly brought her arms to her face as to protect her head and neck against any possible vampire or demon attack. 'Like it'll do a difference', she muttered tearily.

She laid there, shaking from exhaustion and cold, hoping she was not too much out in the open. If she could rest just a little, then she could at least try to gather up enough strength back to stand and try to get home.

After what felt like hours, Willow carefully tested her powers by reaching out telepathically to Buffy.

Even though the required energies weren't significant compared to the amount of power she had to display to escape, she could only hold the link long enough to feel her best friend's anger and fear. To her biggest disarray, Willow quickly had to cut the link when she heard hurried footsteps stomping her way.

Taking an annoyingly loud breath, the witch braced herself to what would likely be her last fight. Peeking through her arms, Willow barely noticed a foot before it kicked her harshly in the stomach.

White spots clouding her already blurry vision, Willow gasped and from the acute pain. She felt a sudden presence at her side just when her hands were swiftly grabbed and taken away from her face. Struggling surprisingly hard despite her condition, it took several seconds before the voice above her finally registered. "Willow, sweetie, calm down!"

"Callie?" She whimpered hoarsely, her struggles lessening.

Callie glanced briefly at Maegan, who was getting back on her feet after having accidentally stumbled over Willow, to look back down at the shivering redhead beside her. The woman quickly took her coat off and covered Willow with it. She then sat next to her and began rubbing her arms gently to warm her up. "It's okay, honey, we've got you. It's over now."

***************

"Is it ever going to be over?" Whined Dawn upon hearing Travers's speech. Dawn watched worriedly her sister as she sat next to Giles. A still Buffy was not a good thing. Ever.

Dawn wished she would just get up and pace around the room. Or get really pissed and jump on Travers. Instead Buffy was being quiet, the only movements from her being her clenched fists and jaw. 'So not a good thing.'

"So let me get this straight." Buffy startled everybody when she suddenly talked. "You only came here because you want to test her powers? Why do you even need to do that, the Coven spent the whole summer doing just that!"

Giles winced at the look Buffy shot him. The watcher opened his mouth to reply but was carelessly interrupted by Travers. Again. "You would think it would be that simple." The man commented dryly.

"You are right, miss Rosenberg had been tested last summer, but the Council believe is hadn't been done properly. By the book, if you prefer."

"You see, as I was explaining earlier, we discovered that your friend was never registered as a practicing witch. Her and her...friend had mentionned being at level 5 when my colleagues met them a few years ago. At that point we simply decided to let it go considering they were still at an amateur level."

Travers grinned at the prospect at having the room's complete attention. 'This is better than I expected.'

"It soon became evident that, while miss..."

"Maclay, Tara Maclay", Patterson informed Travers after checking through his pile of files on his lap.

"While miss Maclay was indeed at an average level of probably 5 or 6, miss Rosenberg's actions soon established her to be at a superior level. Most probably 8 or 9."

Xander watched the occupants of the room while travers spoke, focusing his attention mostly on miss Harkness and Giles. Their tense features made him uncomfortable, as if they knew more than what was being discussed. His head snapped back to the older man when what he had been saying finally registered. "Wait, how did you know what levels they were really at if you had decided to let it go?"

"Oh, score one for us!" Cheered Anya, smiling at her friends while glaring at their 'guests.'

Travers ignored Anya's scowl, his eyes locked with Buffy's. "I overlooked miss Rosenberg's magicks capability until she managed to bring you back. There was simply no way I could continue ignoring her...talents knowing she was showing to be much more powerful than what the seemed."

"You have no idea whatsoever of the powers your friend had to harness to bring you back, don't you?" He asked with a patronizing tone when Buffy only stared at him with uncertainty.

"Does any of you know how many witches or warlocks succeeded in submitting Osiris to their will in the last three hundred years? Six. Four warlocks and two witches."

"Miss Rosenberg is the youngest of them, and the only one who remained somewhat sane after literally forcing Osiris to submitting to her. The others either died from exhaustion shortly after, or were drawned into the dark arts. Oh, and one of them died after the subject of his resurection killed him rather viciously." Patterson explained excitedly.

Dawn was the first one to recover from the shocking facts. "But, if what she did was so dangerous and a proof of the powers she really had, why didn't you do anything back then?"

"She did not have that much powers back then, Dawn." Margaret cautiously elaborated to the teenager, but also to the rest of the room. "It was more a matter of willpower, of harnessing and channeling her magicks, the earth's and everything Osiris thrusted at her."

The room fell silent. Only faint sighs or sniffles disturbed the stillness of the air. They were all carefully watching Buffy from the corner of their eyes. The slayer was bent slightly forward, her head in her hands.

Giles was gently rubbing her back when he felt her stiffening. 'Oh oh.'

Buffy lifted her head slowly, her eyes burning with rage. She glowered at Travers, who had the nerve to still looked calm and unscared.

"You knew it. You knew everything. What it had done to her, the way it broke her."

"You used her as a lab rat to know exactly how much powers she had. You knew how restless she was becoming, and yet you didn't do anything!" Tears of pure hatred filled her eyes, blurrying her vision as reality dawned on her. Horrifying her.

"You wanted her to crash. You wanted her to become addicted."

***************

Angel exhaled an unnecessary breath when he took his first step outside the factory. He walked swiftly to his car, Amy still unconscious over his shoulder. He didn't lose any time as he got her in the front seat of the car and put the seat belt tightly around her.

Scanning quickly but thoroughly the woods accross the street, the vampire cursed when he realized the witches weren't where they were supposed to be anymore. Angel hurried inside the car and left, wondering where the women went. 'Just what I needed. Three AWOL witches', he growled. He hoped nothing had happened to them, because he needed them to find Willow.

After the staring contest between Sam and him, the woman had gave him five minutes to get ahold of Willow. Once the time was passed, she warned him that she would let loose all soldiers and she had made it clear that they would take down everything, or everyone in their path.

Angel hoped Willow had managed to succesfully teleport herself back home. He hesitated to call Buffy right away. The last thing he wanted is to call and having to admit she escaped before he got to her, and that he couldn't find her. Or Callie and Maegan.

'Shit.' The vampire drove fast around the blocks but his vampiric vision still enabled him to scan the streets and yards efficiently. He knew the five minutes were long gone and he was resigning himself to call Buffy when a sudden pressure in his head made him cringe. '_Mister Angel?'_

"Thank God. Callie? Where the hell are you?"

'_Erm, that is a good question. There is a, a phone booth and a park on one side of the road, and a strange restaurant on the other. There is a big clown head in the parking lot.'_

Angel stopped the car at a cross road, irritated at the witches's little game. "Why did you leave? I don't have time to run around and-"

'_We have Willow.' _she interrupted him. '_We really need to take her home, she's sick.'_

"What? Why didn't you tell me sooner! How did you found her?" He shouted, steering the car back on the road instantly, knowing exactly where they were.

'_Less talking, more driving! Just get here!'_

Angel was still hearing Callie's voice in his head when he spotted two huddled figures a few blocks away. Recognizing Maegan's spiked hair right away, the vampire drove the car on the grass and jumped out of the car as soon as he had stopped it.

The vampire quickly kneeled on Willow's opposite side and glanced darkly at the witches. "Amy's in the car. She's still out of it but I need you to bind her. Now."

Callie didn't want to leave the redhead's side but the idea of having a rogue witch close to her quickly settled her mind. Angel paid no attention to the witches's hurried departure, his eyes inspecting cautiously the frail body at his knees.

Angel frowned when he realized that Willow was only wearing a thin long sleeved shirt and sweat pants. Knowing it was cold outside judging by the way the witches were dressed, the vampire hastily slipped his thick duster off his shoulders and placed it on the damp grass. Pushing himself back on his feet, he moved a little to the side to carefully slid his arms under Willow's shoulders and knees. "Shhh, it's okay, it's just me." He reassured her when she whimpered under the sudden move, although she kept her eyes closed.

Gently laying her back on his jacket, Angel wrapped her in it, setting the other coat aside. Worry gripped at Angel as he watched his friend's struggling to breathe. Willow was still shaking badly, her skin was bruised and something he couldn't explain was going on with her body temperature.

Willow startled him when she choked and entered into a coughing fit. Angel quickly but carefully turned her over on her side to help her breathe, and winced in sympathy when he noticed the tears that were running down the redhead's cheeks.

Angel softly rubbed her back, his attention sharply turning to Callie when something he smelled suddenly alarmed him. Blood. 'Oh oh.' "Callie!"

"What, what!" Whispered the witch as she rushed back toward them. "What the hell is going on!" He hissed as she nodded at him that is was now safe to get Willow in the car.

The vampire jumped on his feet to glare uneasily at her. "She's coughing blood!"

Angel's fear only increased when he saw Callie's face going pale. "Get her to the car." She ordered grimly. Lifting the redhead cautiously, Angel headed to the car, not bothering waiting for the other witch.

Callie practically had to run to keep up with the vampire. "She's breached the binding we had put on her. We need to remove it immediately." The witch explained while taking a seat in the back. Angel positionned Willow so her head was on Callie's lap, Maegan sitting on the edge of the other side of the seat to make sure she was secure and wouldn't fall off the seat.

"How long to free her from the binding? Can you do it now?" Angel asked as he took off and raced down the blocks streets. "Too long, even if we do it the quickest but hardest way." She admitted ruefully. "But we can't start right now. Even by using the quickest way, it would take us at least an hour or two and we can't stop once we begin."

"Do you need anything specific, or lots of room or something?"

"No, why?"

Angel glanced sternly in the mirror, hoping he wasn't making a mistake. "That's good, you should have enough time then." He said in an odd tone as the car gained speed.

Callie and Maegan exchanged confused looks. "Where are we going, Buffy's house was over there." Commented nervously Maegan.

Angel sighed as he ignored the witches's concern glare. He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket, already dialing a familiar number. "L.A."

***************

Only Spike reacted in time to catch Buffy as she jumped to hit Travers. Giles quickly followed to help the vampire when the blonde elbowed him roughly in the ribs, and grabbed her by the arm just as she was about to let the Slayer loose on the older watcher. "You son of a bitch! How could you! Giles, let me go!"

Giles secured his hold on Buffy, internally grateful she still had enough judgement left to keep herself from slugging him. No one except Patterson noticed Xander getting up and dodge the raging slayer to throw himself at Travers.

Patterson stood up just fast enough to put himself between his boss and the young man. Too furious to really care who he was hitting, Xander punched the tall man with all his might. Patterson instantly dropped on the floor, moaning and his hands holding protectively his jaw.

"Xander!" Anya and Dawn yelled.

Buffy and Giles froze, shocked. Spike smirked at the man on the floor, and then at Xander. "Nice punch, Harris." He commented casually.

"That is enough!" Everyone turned their head to Margaret, who was now standing in the middle of the room. "Mister Travers, you better explain yourself before this young woman loses all self control and decide to take you down."

"Yes! Because no one will help you. We will even help her!" Anya threatened with a withering glare. "Plus, it really looked like fun." She admitted happily at Dawn, who bit her lip to fight a full blown smirk.

Travers raised his hand in surrender. "I didn't wish for her to become an addict, Buffy. It was an...interesting but unfortunate turn of events."

Spike quickly surrounded Buffy and helped Giles from losing his hold on her. "Interesting! Interesting?!?" She shouted furiously. "Let go of me, you jerks! I won't hurt him, promise. I'll just kill him a little!"

"Buffy!" Giles leaned on her to whisper a warning in her ear. "We need to know what he wants if we want to be able to help Willow!"

The watcher sighed in satisfaction when he felt her relax, but Giles didn't take any chance as he continue to restrain her. His relief was cut short when he realized Buffy was suddenly leaning heavily on him and that her eyes were shut tightly. "Buffy?"

Giles and Spike released his hold on the slayer. Finally free to move, Buffy grabbed her head with a groan and sank to the floor. Everybody began to talk and yell at the same time as they moved to the blonde on the floor.

Miss Harkness quickly pushed through Dawn and Anya and kneeled in front of Buffy. "Everybody, quiet." She ordered.

The older woman gently put her hand on the slayer's cheek. "Focus on what you are feeling, to where it comes from." She explained soothingly. "What do you feel?"

Buffy took a deep breath and slowly lowered her hands to stare into Margaret's kind eyes. "Will. I, I think she was reaching out to me." She told her. "But she didn't speak, and it didn't last long." The slayer expressed worriedly.

"What did you feel? Are you sure it was her?" Xander asked tensly.

Buffy grinned slightly at him before glancing at the others. "I know what she feels like, it was definitely her. Huh, um, I mean magickally. You know, when I helped her heal herself, with the whole energy sharing thingy?" She added lamely as she blushed under the stunned stares in the room.

Dawn took advantage of the situation to go around the small crowd and reach her sister. "Was she okay?" She asked uncertainly as she helped her back to her feet. Buffy locked her eyes briefly with her before looking away, unwilling to answer.

"I believe it is your turn to explain yourselves. Where the bloody hell is going on here?" Travers demanded curiously.

***************

"Willow, stop!" Callie called out for from the back seat of the car. The sedan was racing down the highway, thankfully not too crowded at this time of night. Angel glanced grimly in the mirror, even if the view was always the same. Callie was desperately trying to calm the redhead down enough so they could start on removing the binding.

All their attempts so far had been useless. Everytime either of them would start on the spell Willow would block them out. Callie was growing concerned about the young witch's health, but Maegan was getting pissed. "Would it helped if I stopped?" Angel asked for the third time in fifteen minutes. They didn't actually have the time to stop, but if it could help, the vampire was just about ready to do anything.

Willow's erratic breathing was starting to scare him, and he had to fight the urge to wake up Amy to know exactly what she had done to his friend.

Callie closed her eyes for a minute as her hand hovered over Willow's body. "It won't change anything even if you'd stop, mister Angel. She keeps shutting us down because of what we had done to her in the past, and because of what the witch has done." She softly explained with a frown.

"Oh. Do you need some light?" He offered kindly, since the witches couldn't see properly what they were doing in the darkness of the car.

Callie weakly shook her head as she glanced to Maegan. "No thanks, we're good. It is actually easier that way." 'It's better if I can't see her like that again', she frowned, ashamed.

'_We're going to try one last time'_, she telepathically said to Maegan, hoping the redhead was too unfocused to catch their thoughts.

Maegan half-heartedly nodded and braced herself against Angel's seat. The young woman took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as she took Callie's hand. Their eyes locked and, simultaneously, began on yet another freeing spell.

They managed to get ahold of the redhead's energies for less than ten seconds before Willow rejected them harshly. The shield she put up was so sudden and strong it sent Maegan backwards, where she painfully hit her back and head on the passenger door.

"Bloody hell!"

The commotion startled Angel, who almost smashed the sedan in the car he was about to cut. "What the hell is going on!"

"Everything's fine. No, don't stop!" Callie shouted at the vampire, who had slowed down to make a stop. "Maegan." '_When I tell you to, do what you have to do.'_

"What? You forbid me to do that ever again!" She hissed as she shot a nervous look at a very attentive Angel. "You know I really hate when you do that, it's really annoying." He commented, irritated.

'_Fine. We have one last option to help Willow until we reach L.A. We are going to do that so all we need you to do is to drive, and not crash us on our way there_.' Callie impatiently reached to him as well.

Angel rolled his eyes at the comment but frowned at the witch's tone. She had never raised her voice in the couple of hours he had known her, and he could tell this was not a person to snap easily. '_I didn't know she was going try and throw your friend through the window! _He retorted heatedly_. Why didn't you start by doing that instead of just hurting her for the last forty-five minutes?!?'_

'_Because I promised her she would never have to go through that again. Please just drive and do not talk. Please_...' Callie pleaded with him.

The witch sighed in defeat, regretting it had to come down to that point again. She shot an apologizing look at Maegan, who was showing mixed signs of both anger and anxiety. The only positive thing right now was that Buffy, Giles and miss Harkness were most probably on their way already.

Callie nodded to her wiccan sister to indicate they were about to start. The long haired witch closed her eyes and work on tuning her energies with Willow's. Her heart ached for her, for the pain and distress she was in, but also because she was about to break a promise. Thing she had never done before, no matter what.

Running one hand gently in the redhead's hair in a soothing motion, the other kept a soft yet firm grip on her waist.

Callie waited attentively for Willow to calm down enough to make the first move. The woman opened her eyes and imperceptibly nodded to Maegan when she finally felt the girl lower her guard.

Callie promptly tightened her hold on Willow as she magickally reached inside the redhead's energies to force them open.

Willow instantly reacted by snapping her eyes open, her green irises disappearing into solid onyx. Her back arched from the seat but Callie, knowing what would happen, anticipated it and pinned her down solidly against her.

"Now, Maegan!" She prompted the young witch to do her part of the plan. Maegan did her best to ignore the witch's struggles and focused on what had to be done. She swiftly raised her hand over Willow's chest and, without wasting a second, focused her own energies into the channel Callie managed to open.

"What the hell are you doing to her!" Willow's cries almost sent Angel to crash the vehicule coming the opposite way. He abruptly steered the wheel to bring back the car within the lines before glancing worriedly above his shoulder.

The redhead was writhing in pain under Callie's solid hold, as if she was trying to crawl away from them. Her face was wet with tears and her good hand was grabbing tightly Callie's arm, her nails digging into her flesh.

"Just drive!" Callie shouted back. "Maegan, what is taking you so long!"

"I'm almost there!" Maegan hissed roughly. The spike-haired witch was quickly but steadily mixing her magick with Willow's, her darker energies efficiently overpowering and numbing the redhead's.

It had been a while since Maegan had to do it and, somehow, found it harder to perform. She had done it several times back in England, but it hadn't bothered her as much as it did now. It had been so simple before. All she had to do was to neutralize Willow's powers so the other witches could do their job. She firmly believed back then that they were doing it to protect the world from an unstable witch.

But now, having to hastily cast such an intense and intimate spell in order to save someone she used to think she hated, Maegan wasn't so sure about anything anymore. To her biggest disappointment, she realized she never even remotely cared about how her invasive spell could hurt the redhead.

They all had the shocking proof of how excrutiating the subduing was for Willow when she managed to move under Callie's embrace in a desperate attempt to get the witches off of her.

Willow tried to kick Maegan away from her but, feeling dizzy and disoriented, missed the witch by a several inches. The redhead's feet went right by Maegan to smash painfully against the door, her right foot smashing the window in pieces.

"Willow, no!" Callie screamed.


	31. Chapter 31

Crapy month equals not so much time to write. Sorry about that. Thanks for reading / reviews!

***************

The black sedan that could be seen racing down the highway at the break of dawn didn't stand out from the other cars heading towards LA. Its tinted windows kept other drivers from seeing Inside. If they could, they would most assurable been surprised to see that the sedan's driver was much younger than they would have imagined. They would have been even more shocked to hear the venomous tone coming from the young passenger sitting up front. But then again, she had a good reason to be pissed. The handsome young driver was more than angry too.

"Xander!" The young man jumped out if his skin when the blonde snapped at him. He realized, sheepishly, she had been calling out to him several times already by the irritated look she shot him. "Sorry, what?"

Buffy turned from him and went back to stare before her. "You were lost in your head again. Stop that, it's annoying!"

"Could you tell me again why you sent miss Rosenberg in LA?" Travers interrupted from the back seat, his tone slightly condescending.

The slayer slumped in her seat, suddenly finding her fingernails very fascinating. "I wanted to get her away from you," she muttered. 'That worked out so well', she thought darkly.

She felt like everything went wrong ever since Angel had called a few hours ago. They all had been so relieved at first when he informed her they had Willow and were on their way to LA, but the good news had quickly been replaced by fear concerning her best friend's condition.

Then there was the whole argument about who would go to LA first. It had enraged the slayer when she had been forced to let Travers to tag along. It was ultimately decided that Buffy, Xander, Giles and Travers would go first while the other Council members plus Dawn, Anya and miss Harkness would join later in the day.

Buffy was doing her best to stay calm. She knew it wouldn't do any good to yell like she had done before when Travers announced he wanted to take Willow back in England to be tested again. Her only 'comfort' right now was that it seemed that the Council had nothing to do with the redhead's attack, or kidnapping. Still, there was a lot the man hadn't told her yet. Things that Giles and Margaret obviously knew but had refused to tell her, and it was driving her crazy.

"You could have told us about the situation Buffy, the Council would have helped. We are not your ennemy." Travers offered in an almost too sweet tone.

The slayer snorted. "Yeah, really? Wow, I've never noticed. Maybe it's because I was too busy trying to survive your freaking tests you kept putting me through!" She retorted cynically as she pulled out her phone to stare intently at it.

Xander glanced at the nervous girl beside him. He couldn't blame her to be a basket case of nerves since he felt like one too. "He would call if something was wrong", he told her gently.

"No, he would not", she whispered grimly. Buffy watched her phone several more seconds before turning sharply on her seat to face Travers. "You want to help? Then you better cut the crap and tell us what the hell you want from her."

Giles thought of interrupting, but the angry glare he received from his slayer convinced him to stay quiet. It was about time she heard what Travers had been planning for so long. Only then she would stop putting the blame on him. Hopefully.

Travers kept his face serious as he held Buffy's seething glare. "I want her to join the Council."

***************

"What is taking them so long?"

"I don't know, but I am sure they will be here any minute now, Cordelia." Wesley assured her. He was sitting on a couch of the Hyperion's lobby while Cordelia paced around restlessly.

The truth was, the ex-watcher was getting nervous as well. Angel had called them almost three hours ago to let them know he was coming back, and that they would be welcoming a guest for a little while.

It had taken them about an hour to prepare a room that would be suitable for Willow's condition. Ultimately, Cordelia had picked out a suite on the third floor because of its commodities: it had an adjoining bathroom, a small kitchen and a functionning fireplace. They find it odd that the vampire specifically insisted on that point, but thought better of asking questions when Angel had called. He sounded stressed enough at the time.

Cordelia stopped pacing to face Gunn and a tall, brunette woman that were currently coming down the stairs. "Is everything ready?"

Gunn skipped the bottom steps to jump over the banister. "Yeah, the room is hot as hell, just like he wanted. They're not here yet?"

The ex-cheerleader rolled her eyes at the man's obvious curiosity. "Do you see anyone else here, genius?" She asked dryly.

Wesley scowled at both of them before focusing his attention to the brunette. "Did you have any trouble setting up everything, Mia?"

The tall, middle-aged woman smiled warmly at him while observing her friends's bickering. "No, it went well. The surgery kit is sterilized and ready to be used, and I put the blood and antibiotics in the fridge. I'm just a little curious on what is going on. I mean, you ask me to come here because Angel told you he would need a doctor to examine and stitch up a friend if yours, and I am glad you called me, but you do know I've never treated a witch before, right?" She explained, concerned.

"Yes, but you don't have to worry about that. I believe Angel's asked you here as a medical doctor, not a mystical one. He said-" Wesley began to clarify when the main dors opened to reveal a tired-looking, young spike-haired woman.

She made her way quickly but uncertainly into the lobby, her eyes stopping on Wesley.

"Wesley?" She inquired with a thick English accent. Smiling politely when she received a small nod, she seemed to get a visual feel of the room while walking to the man with a new found confidence. "Mr. Angel needs you and...a gun to go to his car now."

All stared at her dubiously. "Who the hell are you?" an insulted Gunn demanded just as the door opened again. They all stared in shock as a stern-looking Angel came in, carefully carrying an ashen redhead in his arms.

Cordelia was the first one to react. "Oh my God!" She exclaimed as she jumped on her feet.

The doctor promtply ran to his side to take a look at her patient. Her welcoming expression quickly sombered as she took in the girl's condition, but she didn't have the time to say anything that Angel brushed passed her, heading right from the stairs, Cordelia on his heels.

The vampire only stopped half-way up the stairs to glance briefly at his friends. "Gunn, Wes, there's a girl in my car. Take her, chain her and lock her up in the cell. Maegan, send Callie up as soon as she gets in, okay?"

Without even waiting for any confirmation Angel and Mia quickly reached the landing and disappeared through a nearby door.

***************

Cordelia closed the door and visibly flinched at the room's high temperature. "Why does it have to be so hot?" She asked as she watched Mia gathering a couple of things on a large coffee table close to the bed.

The vampire leaned cautiously over the bed to settle Willow comfortably on it. "It's a magick thing, I have no idea why. You can ask Callie about it." He gently freed the redhead from his jacket, hoping the warmth of the room would help her. Angel nodded in satisfaction when he noticed that the bed had been rearranged to sit close as possible to the fireplace, ensuring a constant heat for the young witch.

Quickly stepping aside to let Mia do her job, Angel joined Cordelia at the foot of the bed to let Mia work more freely. "Looks like she was beaten up." The doctor remarked gravely as she took Willow's vitals. "But some bruises seems older though."

"She was injured last week. Well, almost two weeks ago by a pack of demons. The rest must be from her time with Amy," he growled.

"Amy! Hey...wait. You said there was a girl in the car." Cordelia suddenly remembered. Her eyes widened as she realized what Angel had meant. "You brought her here?!? Are you crazy!"

"What was I supposed to do, let her go so she could come after Willow again? She's been bound, she's defenseless now." He hissed. "What is it Mia?" He couldn't refrain asking when she saw her sudden frown.

The brunette put down the stethoscope and blood pressure cuff away before pulling a hairband from her pocket to put her hair up in a loose bun. "What can you tell me about her injuries?" She demanded softly as she put on a pair of surgical gloves.

Angel watched his friend go to a big suitcase in a corner of the room and bring it back to the bed. "Hum...she has broken ribs, a broken wrist, gashes on her right side, and she also had a concussion. Oh. She was also coughing blood earlier." He listed, trying to remember what Buffy had told him.

"But it's okay, apparently." He rapidly continued at Mia's concerned expression. "Callie said it was because of the binding and now that it's gone, it shouldn't happen again. She'll confirm it to you when she gets here."

Mia glared suspiciously at the vampire. She really hated having to deal with supernatural forces sometimes. There was never a sure way to know where the physical problems ended and where the mystical ones started. "Ok."

The doctor reached for Willow's shirt and gently lift it to see the damages. Her face scrunched up in sympathy as she took in the heavy bruising and healing gashes. "Holy cow...what the hell happened to you, sweetheart." She whispered sadly.

Mia worked efficiently at setting up a bunch of tubes out of the case and plugging them at a surprisingly small machine that was encased directly in the suitcase. Noticing that she was getting curious stares from Angel and Cordelia, she began to explain what she was going. "What? You should know by now that I always come fully prepared. She's barely able to breathe so I'm going to give her oxygen. I think I'll intubate her to give her a better chance to recover. Those bruises are nasty-looking, and It'll be easier to give her a complete exam after."

A soft knock at the door kept the vampire to comment. He smiled faintly as Callie swifty entered the room. "Mr. Wesley says that the witch is shackled and secured in the basement, and that he was going to clean-up the mess in the car."

The witch made her way to the bed quietly, her eyes observing carefully the doctor's every move. "I didn't know Mr. Windam-Price was working here." She reflected casually, but Angel could sense her uneasiness. "Uh, yeah, for almost three years now. He was Buffy's new watcher when Giles got fired. But then Buffy quit the Council, and Wes was fired. Is there a problem?"

"No, not really." She hesitated, her eyes never leaving the bed. "Buffy informed me you are the only one who knows the real reason about why Willow was sent to us. She and Giles didn't want others to found out..."

Angel frowned at Cordelia, who for once had the sense of remain silent, and Callie. "I don't get it, why would it be a problem? They're professionals, they won't say anything."

"Hum, guys? I get that what you're saying is important, but I'm trying to work here. A little quiet would be appreciate." Mia chastised them. "Callie, is that right?" She inquired hopefully.

"Yes."

"Hi, so I presume you are the one taking care of the magickal side of things?" Callie's grin helped Mia relax a little. There was something about the witch that made her felt better. Safer. "Great. Angel told me she was coughing blood, but that it wasn't a physical thing. How come?"

Callie licked her lips as she thought of the way she could explain it. "Well, I am not saying it isn't physical, because it was, after all, blood. Hum...let's pretend Willow had been in a full body cast. It would protected her from harm and from injuring herself furthermore. But then, something or someone comes along and tries to break the cast, from the outside as well as from the inside. And that someone", her expression and tone darkening drastically, "finds a way to break the cast." "As a result, a big shard impales itself in her leg, which would bleed as long as you don't remove it."

Cordelia shot a confused look between Willow and Callie. "So Amy wrecking the binding you put on Willow was hurting her from the inside, making her bleed. Right until you came along and..."

"Removed it. The whole thing." Concluded Angel tiredly. He watched sullenly as Mia finished intubating the redhead and began preparing an IV drip. She moved expertly, plugging, poking and taping everything in place within minutes. "You still haven't explained the whole heat thing." He heard her ask to the witch.

"Oh. It's nothing specific, actually. It just helps her because she's constantly cold. It's not as bad as when we were in England, but still. And I knew you would have to..." Callie waved her hand in the air as Mia, scissors in hand, was about to start cutting Willow's clothing. "I just want her to be as comfortable as possible. It must have been cold as hell for her where she was." She added, clearly upset.

Angel gently put his hand on her shoulder and squeeze it. "She's one of the strongest people I know, always have been. She's going to be okay." He told her in a firm, confident tone. 'That was a great rehearsal from when Buffy will get here and I have to tell her the same', he thought grimly.

His attention went back to Willow and Mia as she asked Callie to help her. Angel promptly looked away as both women were almost done cutting off her friend's clothes. The sight of her battered body was making him nauseous. "And that's our cue to leave and go see the others. Come on Cordelia, let's go!" He grabbed her by the arm and almost dragged her out of the room.

Angel released Cordelia once they were a few feet away from the room but still out of sight from people downstairs. "Hey, you okay?" He asked, not liking how quiet she had been in the room.

Cordelia sighed and turned to face him. "Yeah, I'm just...It's just, I wasn't expecting so much. I almost didn't recognize her, Angel. She was all cut and bruised, I guess I'm just shocked."

Angel hugged her tightly. "I know." He held her hand as they went downstairs. The vampire froze when he saw his whole crew sitting in the lobby, waiting for them. Fred and Faith must've gotten back while he was upstairs. And, from the way Wesley was sternly staring at him, he knew he was in for a lengthy explanation.

***************

Buffy was fuming. She had to admit it was the last thing she would expect Quentin Travers to say. She would almost prefered if he had threatened her instead. She stared incredulously at him, her mouth slightly opened. "What? I- over my dead body, Travers!"

Xander couldn't believe his ears either. There was no way he was going to let his best friend get suck into the tweed psycho squad. It was bad enough that Buffy still had to deal with them. "Willow will never agree to become one of yours. She's seen what you've been doing to her best friend, she's not crazy!"

"Oh, I strongly believe miss Rosenberg won't be tempted in any way to refuse our offer." Travers avanced, a smug smile on his face.

'Oh. That can't be good', Buffy thought. "You really she will want to join the Council even after I've resigned from it? Somehow I doubt that." She threatened.

Travers never lost his smirk, but his eyes stared icyly at the slayer, ignoring the two other passengers. "It wouldn't be in your interest, or your best friend's, to do such a thing."

"You do as much as lifting your pinky in our way and I can promise you Willow Rosenberg will be in the next plane leaving for England, where she will be trialed both for the murder of Warren Mears as well as using necromancy last year. I can assure you, if such thing should happen, you would never see your friend again. You wouldn't want that, do you?"

Blood drained from Buffy and Xander's faces. They glanced at each other with strickened eyes, and Buffy suddenly knew. That was the reason why Giles had sent Willow back home sooner than planned. The sullen expression clouding the watcher's face only confirmed everything.

***************

"I don't get it, Wes. Why does it bother you so much?" Angel asked, exasperated. "So, she spent the summer at a Coven in England, what's the big deal about that?"

The vampire didn't have to say much about the situation when he and Cordelia came downstairs. Wesley had guessed the better part of it already, he just didn't know about the specifics that lead to Willow's lengthy stay at the Coven.

Wesley pursed his lips as he glanced cautiously at the other occupants of the room. Angel had never accepted to elaborate about Buffy's visit last summer, but the man had time to think about it. And the presence of Callie Maines here with Willow only corroborated his suspicions. "It does not bother me, I was just asking if you knew exactly what you were getting yourself into."

"Getting into? I'm helping a friend, that's what I'm doing!" The vampire snapped.

"I know. I know, I just meant...I think we should be more prudent about the situation. The Council doesn't go after people for just about anything. Just like the Coven's presence is not to be taken lightly. It-"

Wesley was rudely interrupted as Faith snorted. "No offense, Wes, but the Council would totally go after anyone who glanced at them the wrong way. They're just a bunch of insecure, misogynistic ass-" She stopped midsentence after seeing the way Angel was glaring at her. "Anyway, Buffy will do as usual and kick their asses, and everything'll go back to normal." She added, somewhat agitated.

"You don't have to stay if don't want to, Faith. But I'm sure Buffy will barely even notice your presence. It's not for you she's coming here for." Cordelia reassured her, sensing the slayer's uneasiness. "Nope, I'm all good. Besides," she mumbled as she stared at Angel, "they're here."

***************

Xander pushed open the door to the Hyperion, his other hand gently resting in Buffy's back. Not entirely sure what to expect, they walked slowly inside, not bothering to check if Giles and Travers were following.

The young man was surprised to see the small crowd scattered around in the lobby. And he was practically sure that the shock upon seeing Faith was obvious on his face. He turned to see Buffy's reaction, but the blonde only seemed to register Angel, who was currently walking to them.

Buffy felt Xander's turmoil as she quickly scanned the room. Her heart skipped a beat when her eyes locked briefly on the younger slayer. 'Why the hell isn't she in jail?!?' She wondered angrily. It stopped mattering, however, the second she noticed Angel coming their way.

"Buffy, Xander, hi." Angel greeted them as he looked passed them towards the door. "You guys alone?"

"Not exactly. The others will get here sometime tomorrow." Xander's expression darkened as he spoke, worrying the vampire.

"Is everything okay? You look...peeved." Angel noted as footsteps were heard again. His expression soon matched Xander's as Giles, closely followed by Travers, made their way in. "What is he doing here, what's going on?" He whispered to the slayer, concerned.

Buffy just stared at him, her whole demeanor downcast. She pointedly ignored the curious glances she was getting from around the room. "Where is she, Angel?"

Angel was about to answer when Travers cleared his throat. "I hope I won't have to remind you of our discussion, miss Summers?" He said with a snarky tone.

Everyone watched as Buffy tensed, her fists closing into tight fists. "Is she going to jump on him?" Fred whispered worriedly to Faith. "I almost hope so." She retorted back, smirking but still nervous about being in the same room as the other slayer and the head of the Council.

"I didn't forget. Even if I wanted to. Asshole." She muttered softly enough that only Xander, Angel and Faith heard it. "I want to see my best friend. Is that too much to ask?" She growled threateningly.

Travers looked down at her, apparently thinking her request over. "I believe you and your friend can go, as long as you are under constant supervision."

"Quentin!" Giles exploded as Angel quickly grabbed the slayer's arm before she had a chance to charge the watcher. "They won't be doing anything irrational. Am I right?" He declared while sending a pleading glance at his slayer.

Buffy took deep, calming breaths as she tried to fight her murderous urges. She finally lifted her gaze up to meet Angel's. "I just want to see her. Please?"


	32. Chapter 32

I am so sorry for the lack of updates lately. My school went on strike for two months, and then my laptop died (with the update I was working on), so it's been a lot of fun. Updates should be more regular now that summer is here. Thanks again for your patience, and please remember that reviews and feedbacks are always appreciated!

Dawn moaned as she took a huge bite of her double chocolate chip muffin. Her mouth still half full, the teenager grabbed her icy glass of milk and slowly began to drink it.

Her eyes never wavered as she chewed on another chunk of her muffin while staring at the Council members sitting on the opposite side of the kitchen table.

Anya snickered while sipping her coffee, coffee that she solely intended to keep for herself.

Sitting at the kitchen island with Anya, Margaret drank quietly her herbal tea as she read the Sunnydale newspaper and munching on a raspberry danish.

Spike smirked, amused, as Dawn and Anya blatantly taunted the frustrated looking watchers with their food and beverages. After the youngest one, a feeble looking man, had the guts to ask for something to drink and had only received a glass of lukewarm tap water, no one else had dared ask for anything else.

Every time one of them opened their mouth an icy glare from the vampire would immediately shut them up.

Spike glanced at the girls and subtly nodded at them. Anya smiled and got up gracefully.

"Gosh, I am so tired from staying up all night because of all the unwanted Council members in the house. It's a good thing I made lots and lots of coffee!" She spoke out loud in a cheery voice.

All watched as the ex-demon went to the fridge to pick up a dark bottle, then to the counter to get the coffee pot and mugs. Back to her seat at the island, she quickly poured the rest of the coffee in the colorful mugs with a broad smile on her face.

Finally, Anya casually opened the bottle and generously filled one of the emptiest mugs with its content. She never lost her smile as the forced guests watched, horrified, the blood that was now mixed in the coffee. Without a word she handed the reddish liquid to Spike and placed the rest of the mugs in front of Mrs Harkness, Dawn and herself.

All grinned at the now fully pouting Council members.

Callie yawned as she quietly followed Gunn down stairs into Angel's apartment. The young man had waked her up a few minutes ago because Angel needed her help with something. The witch dreaded what the vampire wanted to ask her as she entered the small living room.

Her doubts were confirmed when Gunn lead her down another flight of stairs. Stairs that lead to Amy. 'What did she do now?' She thought, not without a hint of annoyance.

The younger witch had yelled, screamed and tried to curse everybody for hours before Callie had, eventually, performed a silencing spell in the room to keep the others from being constantly disrupted by her, but then Amy decided to attempt to break the binding.

Callie smirked when she remembered Maegan's smug expression as they watched the former rat failing at even putting a dent in their spell.

'It feels like it was ages ago'. Callie yawned once again, the absence of sleep taking a toll on her body. She had slept for barely five hours because she had insisted to stay up longer than necessary to talk with Angel and Giles the night before.

She had first reassured them about the redhead's condition, but then the discussion went on for much longer than she had planned. They had started planning a way to keep Travers and the Council to put their hands on Willow and, before she knew it, the night drifted away to welcome another day.

The soft tingling Callie suddenly felt indicated her they were finally there. Gunn abruptly stepped aside to let her in, leaving Callie to meet the weary vampire.

"What is going on with him?" She asked, surprised, as Gunn quickly went back upstairs without saying a word.

Angel smirked at his friend's hastily exit. "She's freaking him out. He's not used to be around witches and magick. No offense, of course". He added with a small but warm smile.

"I cannot blame him. Being around the darker kind of magicks can easily disrupt anyone's life. It is not meant for everybody". She expressed grimly, her mind briefly going back to the day where Giles had brought his young charge to the Coven.

Callie quickly dismissed the sad look Angel sent her way with a wave of the hand. "I am fairly certain you haven't asked me down here to chit chat, Mister Angel. So, may I ask, what did she do now?"

"She hasn't done anything, exactly", he admitted cryptically. Instead he turned around and motioned for the witch to follow him. Callie sighed and cursed the second she made her way into the room. "You have to be bloody kidding me" she muttered angrily.

Curled up in a corner of the cell, Amy was rocking back and forth and muttering incomprehensible words. She was shaking and her clothes were drenched in sweat. Her eyes were glazed over and she was staring blankly at the room's opposite wall.

'Great. Just what we needed.'

A soft breeze slowly tore Buffy out of slumber. She stretched sluggishly across the bed and sighed in contentment when her arm brushed against cold sheets. 'Finally something that isn't too hot.'

Buffy tensed when her thoughts caught up with her still half-asleep brain. 'Cold sheets?'

Her eyes snapped open, suddenly completely awake. Her heart skipped a beat when the bed she and Willow had been sleeping in was empty.

The slayer sat up abruptly, panicked. She didn't hear anyone come in and there was no way Willow had been able to leave by herself. She had only been taken off from the respirator a few short hours before and had been sleeping ever since.

Buffy twisted sharply on the bed and was about to bolt to go search for her friend when her eyes caught a flash of red near the suite windows.

Her shoulders slumped in relief and Buffy let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding as she stared incredulously at her best friend. She could hardly understand how the redhead had managed to get up by herself without waking her up.

The blonde couldn't help but wonder if releasing Willow from every magick binding she had been under last night had something to do with it.

But, Buffy realized easily, she didn't care. All she cared about was that Willow was sitting sideways on a dark blue velvet loveseat, her bandaged foot dangling limply in the air while her fingers softly stroke the furniture's thick material. Her best friend was here.

She was back.

Buffy's grateful smile faded when she noticed that the hospital gown Willow was wearing was hanging loosely on her shoulders, baring the major part of her back.

The slayer cringed at the bruises that were visible on her friend's back. The new ones were oddly fading amongst the older ones, creating some kind of abstract painting Dawn used to do when she was a toddler, Buffy mused absently.

The pouring rain that was falling outside kept the slayer from guessing what time it was. The gray-ish sunlight that was coming in through the slightly opened bay windows gently lighted the room, enough to be able to see everything, but without being too painful for the witch's eyes.

Buffy sighed tiredly as she got up to cautiously walk to Willow. Her mind felt detached from the rest of her body as she dig her bare feet on the soft carpet, the stress and physical exhaustion still catching up with her despite several hours of sleep.

"Will?" The slayer asked softly as she sat next to her friend. She hesitated before gently grasping the redhead's hand. Callie had warned her physical contacts would be hard for Willow for a little while, or at least until she was able to focus enough to set her own shields up.

"Hey Buff." Her best friend's voice startled her. Her voice was soft but clear, and a little amused when Willow finally turned to face her. There was a twinkle in her eyes that was making Willow's natural deep green irises shine even brighter than normal. 'When is the last time I ever saw her eyes so full of life?' Buffy wondered with a twinge of sadness.

A well-placed elbow in the ribs brought her back to reality. She smiled sheepishly at her friend, who was happily smirking at her. "Cute pjs, by the way."

Buffy looked down at herself, confused. 'What is wrong with cheeky monkey pyjamas?'

Refusing to take the bait and unable to stop herself, she quickly engulfed her friend in a bear hug. She held her as tightly as she could without hurting her, sighing in relief when she felt Willow relax and hug her back.

Willow held the slayer so tightly the blonde wondered for a moment when her friend had gotten so strong. Sensing she was crushing her, Willow squeezed Buffy one last time before gently pulling away. "I'm sorry, I just, I'm just so happy to see you." She admitted nervously.

The witch knew she would have to explain when Buffy, even though she was smiling warmly at her, stared at her, confused. "Um, Will? Not that I'm not happy to see you too, in fact you have to idea how happy I am to have you back, but um, how did you get out of bed? And gotten so strong?"

Willow lowered her eyes to avoid her best friend's. She wasn't sure how Buffy was going to take it. "We're not really here."

"What do you mean?"

Willow sighed and glanced briefly at her best friend. The room they were in was somehow familiar to the redhead, but she couldn't quite place it. "We're here, but we're not..."

"Willow..." Buffy interrupted warningly. 'Damn. Way to go Buffy! Bully your best friend, see what good will come out of that!' She chastised herself.

"I'm sorry Will, I didn't mean to snap...Hey, come on, it's okay, don't cry!" The slayer quickly backpedaled when she saw tears pooling in Willow's eyes.

Willow shook her head and blinked furiously to get rid of them. "I'm sorry, I know it creeps you out but I was scared and I, I wanted to talk to you, but I couldn't before and I'm not even sure I can, not yet, because I'm not sure what that stupid bitch did to me and I have no idea where we are and-"

The redhead's babble was cut short when a small hand covered her mouth. "You're babbling like crazy so we're definitely not here...here." Buffy stated.

'Oh.' Buffy thought after a moment. "Am I in your dreams?" She asked curiously.

Buffy missed the hasty look of fear that momentarily clouded the redhead's features. "Hum, no. Somehow I doubt I would've let myself be dressed like that if it was my dream", she teased with a smirk.

Buffy blushed and swatted Willow on the arm. "Hey! I'm tired, ok? I didn't plan on you popping up in my dream, or I would've thought of something better." She defended herself in a mock-offended tone. "At least you're not in pain here, so consider yourself lucky, young lady."

"Will?" Buffy softly pushed when Willow remained quiet. The redhead sighed, clearly not wanting to face her best friend. "You can talk to me, sweetie, I won't bite. The one who bite is downstairs", she added as an afterthought. "But he won't bite either-"

"Am I okay?"

"What?" Buffy asked, confused.

Willow took a deep breath before fully facing her best friend. Part of her felt embarrassed to ask such a thing. In fact, it seemed completely ridiculous now that she'd said it out loud.

Wouldn't it only be harder to find the will to wake up if something was wrong with her? 'Great, now Buffy's looking at me funny.'

Summoning her last dose of courage, Willow steeled herself and repeated her question. She inwardly cursed the clear anguish she heard in her voice as she did; knowing Buffy would have heard it too.

The compassionate eyes with which the slayer watched her made Willow want to cry. Her desire to know was suddenly gone. All she wanted now was to get out of her friend's dream and go back to her own. 'Denyland is good. It's great, even. Yep, I'll go back there a few more hours and-'

Buff could read the conflicting thoughts that were racing in her best friend's mind. Willow was so lost in her inner babble that Buffy was certain she hadn't even heard her answer.

Knowing she should do something before her best friend became too panicked, Buffy gently cupped Willow's face in her hands and gave it the slightlest nudge to make her face her again.

"Willow, look at me."

Buffy smiled gently when Willow finally locked eyes with her. "You're fine. Well, a little banged up, a couple of new bruises and you've cut your foot pretty good but other than that, you're okay. I promise". She added after the redhead looked at her dubiously.

She watched patiently as Willow shifted on the loveseat and took the time to assess the room they were in. Signs of recognition were showing on her face, even if the redhead was still clearly anxious. "We're in L.A?" She stated after a short while.

"Yeah. How did you...?"

"The vibe of the place. And I've been here before when, when..." Willow said awkwardly before tensing up. "Someone's coming".

"Who?" Buffy asked promptly as she stood to face the door. She was surprised when Willow grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down with her. "I have to go, you're starting to wake up."

"Oh. Okay. Don't take too long to wake up, okay? Everybody's really tired of waiting, they can't wait to see you," Buffy teased her.

The slayer frowned when Willow only nodded briefly and kept staring at her hesitantly, her hands fidgeting. "What's wrong, Will?"

Willow swallowed and forced her hands apart to keep them still. "Nothing...it's just. Um, can I have another hug before I leave?" She demanded in small voice.

Buffy smiled widely and gladly hugged her best friend. "Please come back quickly, Will. I miss you". She whispered softly in her ear.

Cautious footsteps entering the room startled Buffy awake. Her eyes snapped open to see Xander standing at the foot of the bed, watching them with concerned eyes.

Buffy glanced at her side and was disappointed to see that Willow was still sound asleep. Part of her had expected the redhead to wake up with her. Mindful to not move the bed too much, Buffy sat up and shot a slightly annoyed look at the fireplace. The room was not as hot anymore, but a fire was still burning in the foyer, keeping the suite to a warm temperature.

"How did you manage to sleep? It's still hot as hell in here", Xander quietly commented as he sat down on the edge of the bed. He had tried at first to stay with them in the room, but it hadn't taken him long before he had to leave, unable to support the heat.

The slayer sighed and ran a tired hand through her hair. "It's not as bad as last night. What time is it anyway?"

Xander smiled at how young Buffy seemed upon waking up.

Without the constant stress, anger and resentment that had plagued them lately, the blonde reminded him of the earlier years when they used to stay up all night, watching B rated movies and talk until they passed out one by one. "It's almost one in the afternoon."

"Oh." 'I've been sleeping for almost twelve hours? Wow.'

"She's looking better." The young man commented softly, staring at his childhood friend with relief. He had been scared to death when they finally got to see Willow last night.

Neither of them was prepared to see the redhead in such an upsetting condition. Mia had been quick to reassure them, but Xander found it hard to believe her. And even now that Willow was off the respirator, and had some color back to her cheeks, Xander wasn't convinced.

Aware of his friend's foul mood, Buffy carefully got out of bed and guided him out of the room. "She's a little better. Mia said she was going to come back in a few hours to check back on her to make sure everything's still fine. Where's everybody?" She asked, realizing everyone must've been up but her.

"I'm not sure…Callie's in the basement with Angel, Cordelia and Faith aren't here yet and the others are probably still in their rooms, I guess."

Xander leaned against the wall as he watched Buffy attentively. "Giles and the others were up all night trying to find a way to get Travers off of Will's back."

"Did they come up with something?" Buffy demanded, not daring hope too much.

Xander sighed while shaking his head. "Not really. I think the best they got so far is to try to convince Travers that Willow's magicks are stable and that they aren't a risk for anyone, or herself."

"They aren't a risk, she proved it already!" The slayer hissed, frustrated. "Travers only wants her because it'll boost his ego to have her under his control!"

"He won't get to her; Willow would never accept his offer, not after everything they did to you." Xander comforted the young blonde. He reached out and took her hand. "We'll do everything we can to keep her from having to use magick again. He can't force her if we can't help it."

Buffy slowly raised her head to shot Xander a look. "What's with you and this obsession of not letting Willow do magicks? We don't have a choice here, Xander!"

Xander ran a nervous hand over his face, oddly noticing that he really should take a few minutes to shave. "We always have a choice! She had a choice but we took it away from her when we let Giles take her to that goddamned Coven!"

"You think that let them teach her all that magick crap for months was better? Look at everything that's happened since she came back!" He snapped.

"Don't give me that shocked look, Buffy!" Xander's voice rose when Buffy stared disbelievingly at him. "If we had just kept her with us and help us quit magicks like before, we wouldn't be in such deep shit now. I thought they were supposed to drain her or whatever they had to do to get her rid of those fucking powers!"

Buffy felt her own anger rising as Xander's words sank in. "That's what you think? That we gave up on her because we didn't forced her to stay home? They did try to get rid of the magicks, Xander!" Buffy yelled as she faced her friend.

"They tried so many times it was killing her! She would have if Giles hadn't put a stop to it." She began to explain while tempting to calm herself down. "So it was either letting her die or training her from the start. What would you have choose?"

Xander stood still in the middle of the hallway, frozen. Buffy was watching him closely, an unreadable look on her face. His mind reeled as he processed what Buffy had just revealed. "I, I..." He stuttered, too stunned to talk.

"It's time you pick your side, Xand." Buffy told him gently as she glanced down at their joined hands. "Will got her powers back last night. No more restraining, or binding...and she's scared as hell we'll turn our backs on her because of it. What are you going to do about it?"

Giving his best friend's hand one last squeeze before letting it go, Xander steeled himself as he locked eyes with the slayer. "I've spent months watching my best friend becoming this whole other person because of the magicks. Last summer was so hard, Buff...At first I thought everything would go back to normal once you'd be back, but..."

"I want to be there for her, I really do, but I couldn't stand losing her again. I can't just sit there and pretend everything's okay, because it's not. Not after everything. I, I need some time to think."

Without waiting for a response, Xander quickly brushed past a speechless Buffy and stormed downstairs.

Hidden by the corner wall and standing only a few steps away from the stairs, Wesley frowned and silently turned around to go back upstairs.

"For God's sake, Faith, could you make any more noise? It's like...1pm. Oh." Cordelia exclaimed when she entered her living room. She watched tiredly as the brunette slayer finished stretching.

"That's real funny, Cordy. But the noise is coming from your neighbor's place. She's the one you should ask to tone it down." Faith replied with a smirk. "And I must say I'm feeling insulted if you thought I was the one making those noises. Who exactly do you think I am?"

Cordelia snorted and went to the small kitchen to make coffee. "You wouldn't talk last night, but you have to spit now. Why did you crash here?"

"No special reason, I just thought it was getting wicked crowded over there. I didn't want to impose."

"Impose? You live there, Faith!" The ex-cheerleader scowled. "You didn't have to leave just because of the sudden Sunnydale reunion last night. Buffy didn't even acknowledge you. She probably didn't even see you."

It was Faith's turn to snort. "She saw me. I know it because I felt her eyes digging holes right through me." The slayer answered back with a surprisingly serious tone.

Cordelia grunted and walked over to sit on her couch. Faith, who had just finished with her daily morning routine, bounced on her feet and looked about to bolt. "Faith, I know you have a lot of unresolved issues with Buffy and the others, but believe me. Last thing Buffy wants right now is pick up a fight with you."

"Yeah, right. Whenever B had problems she couldn't deal with like with asses like Travers she used to take it out on whatever else she could. And I ain't planning to stay in the way this time. It'll be better for the both of us if I just step out until Red's better and they're out of LA." Faith decided as she put on her sneakers.

She was on her way to the door when she heard Cordelia's annoying 'I know what I'm talking about' tone. "You want to win points and make the situation better, Faith? Help trying to find a way to get rid of Travers!"

The slamming of the door answered Cordelia, just as the phone rang. "Hello? Hi Wes, no...wait, what? Okay, no I'm on my way. Yes! But hey, you owe me lunch! From that bakery down 63rd!" She added quickly on the phone before hanging up.

"Xander Harris, I am so going to kick your ass when I get my hands on you..."

"What do you mean, you won't help?" Angel questioned, confused.

Callie exhaled slowly while trying to find the best way to answer Angel's request. Her decision to refuse to help Amy through her withdrawals was not something she had decided lightly.

It might get her in some troubles with Margaret later but, frankly, Callie realized she didn't care. She always had the utmost respect for Miss Harkness, the Coven and Wiccan religion, but she felt like it was going too far this time.

The witch was one of the rare who knew exactly what Willow had went through for the last several months and, even if some of it had been caused by the redhead's bad decisions, Callie knew Amy was responsible for the rest.

Very responsible.

So, for the first time since Callie joined the Coven she had come to consider her whole world, the dark-haired witch made the decision of stepping out, and would simply deal with the consequences once Miss Harkness would get to LA.

"She is no danger, Mister Angel. Her condition is perfectly normal for someone who has been abusing of her gift from the Goddess. I believe you are familiar with the threefold law?"

Buffy kept mumbling under her breath as her hands searched half-heartedly for new bandages in the first aid kit. Finally finding some that weren't too big, she put them aside and undid the gauze protecting her friend's foot.

Gently lifting Willow's leg to place it over hers so that her foot was resting on her thigh, Buffy had a pretty good view at the nasty cut the redhead had gotten when she accidently broke the car's window. The gash was running along the side of the foot to end up right above the ankle.

Buffy gently started to clean the wound, cautious of not pulling any stitches in the process.

The slayer had spent the last hour cloistered in the room with her best friend, keeping herself busy changing her bandages and miserably failing at any attempt to calm down.

Feeling she might snap or hit anyone crossing her path, Buffy preferred to stay upstairs where she knew she wouldn't be bothered.

She still couldn't believe what Xander had said. How could he turn away from his best friend? How could he not realize that Willow would be crushed by his decision, and that it would only add fuel to the guilt and torment she's been drowning herself into ever since Tara died?

Distracted by her thoughts, Buffy remained completely oblivious that her friend was slowly regaining consciousness.

She was busy applying a special ointment on Willow's foot when she felt the redhead's leg trying to shift. Thinking she had imagined it at first, Buffy resumed her task until Willow's voice startled her. "What are you doing?" She croaked weakly.

"Will? Will, wait don't move. I'm almost done, okay?" She quickly reassured her when Willow began to move her leg away. Buffy hurried to wrap her friend's foot in clean gauze and, once she was satisfied with her work, pushed herself to the head of the bed.

Willow's eyes were closed when Buffy lay down but she knew she wasn't sleeping. Gently so she wouldn't accidently hit any of the redhead's scrapes or bruises, Buffy brushed Willow's hair from her face, hoping it would prompt her friend to open her eyes.

She was rewarded a few seconds later when a pair of bleary eyes sluggishly opened to stare at her. "Hey." Buffy whispered happily. She leaned forward and softly kissed Willow's cheek. "Welcome back sweetie."

Hearing her best friend's voice after everything that has happened was what finally got Willow to break down. The walls she had kept up around herself with so much effort these past few months collapsed and crashed down as the latest events overwhelmed her.

Willow whimpered and brought her hands to her face just as she felt strong arms gathering her and holding her close as she sobbed in Buffy's arms, her body and mind screaming in agony.


	33. Chapter 33

Here's the new chapter, sorry it's taken me longer than expected to put it up...Thanks for reading, don't forget to review!

* * *

"Wow. This is Angel's hotel?" Exclaimed Dawn in awe, pointing at Anya the impressive cream-colored building.

"Huh, Angel is much better off than I thought. We should get a hotel too; it would be very practical for Scooby meetings, especially since Willow destroyed the Magic Box." Anya replied briskly.

The former vengeance demon found easily the parking entrance and silently thanked Angel for being a vampire. The interior parking would keep the girls from getting wet from the rain, and they wouldn't have to worry about bringing their luggage inside all at once.

All three women rapidly got out of the car, Dawn practically jumping out of it. "Do we have to wait for the jerks to be here, or can we go inside right away?"

Margaret groaned softly as she exited the Summers's Jeep. "They should not be long, but you can go in if you'd like, Dawn. I'll wait for them."

Dawn didn't have to be asked twice. She grabbed two smaller bags from the trunk and, yelling thanks above her shoulder, trotted toward the staircase.

* * *

Willow sighed exhaustedly as her breathing slowed down and her sobs subsided. Part of her wanted to fall back asleep but somehow she felt it wouldn't be a smart thing to do.

Not feeling well enough to open up her eyes just yet, Willow instead focused on the small but strong arms tightly wrapped around her. Buffy had been holding her from the moment she broke down, rubbing a soothing hand down her back and arms, and whispering comfort words to her.

Willow shifted slightly to rest her head more comfortably against Buffy's shoulder as the blonde moved her hand and began to gently run her fingers through her hair.

It had been so long since someone had touched her like that, not since Tara had died. It wasn't the same; it could never be the same. But it was close enough for her to still feel safe and, more importantly, it made Willow finally understand she was not alone anymore.

She knew something was wrong. She could feel the tension radiating from her best friend, and it made Willow fear the worse. 'What happened while I was away?' She thought worriedly right before a wave of vile energies hit her.

Buffy frowned when Willow, who had been relaxed against her, suddenly stiffened. "Will? Willow, what's going on?"

Concerned she might be in pain, Buffy tried to shift to let Willow move more freely in bed.

"Don't." rasped out the redhead as Buffy felt her tightening her hold on her shirt, her slim fingers gripping a solid handful of the fabric while curling up even closer to her.

"Shhh, it's okay, don't talk. I won't move." The slayer quickly promised as a soft knock at the door was heard. "Who is it?"

"It's me, Maegan." Informed the young woman as she slipped quietly inside. "I was looking for Callie", she explained while watching Willow closely.

"How is she?"

Buffy turned her eyes away from the English witch to glance at her friend, still curled up at her side. "She's awake but something is freaking her out, I don't know what." She admitted, unable to hide her concern. "You don't know where Callie is?"

Maegan came closer, her expression serious. "I thought she would be here. Mister Angel needed her with something. I hope it wasn't about the witch..." She pestered, oblivious of Willow and Buffy's reactions.

"What do you mean, what other witch?" Buffy hissed.

Buffy looked down when she felt a cold hand on her arm. Willow had opened her eyes and was staring coldly at her. "Amy's here."

* * *

Giles, Wesley and Travers were talking in the Hyperion's lobby when Maegan rushed downstairs. "Is everything alright?" Giles asked immediately.

"Let me think, your slayer just learned you brought the witch here. Yes, everything is just peachy!" She replied acidly.

"What's peachy?" Inquired Angel as he and Callie joined the others.

"Oh, just the fact that Buffy wants to rip your heads off because we didn't tell her you brought Amy along".

"Oh."

Callie sighed before walking up to her friend and fellow coven member. "Where is she now?"

Maegan glanced quickly at Travers, not feeling comfortable answering the question with the older watcher around. She may have not been very fond of the redheaded witch, but she disliked the man even more. "Willow convinced her to stay with her."

"Willow's awake?" Dawn squealed as she made her way into the lobby, dropping her bags before rushing toward Giles.

"Yes, apparently. Hello, Dawn." The watcher greeted the teenager, standing up to accept an energetic hug from her. "Where are Anya and Margaret?"

"Oh, they're waiting for the rest of the council to get here. I think they got lost or something." She smirked. Ignoring the warning glare she received from Travers, Dawn turned to the others. "Can I go see Willow? Buffy and Xander must've spent all night with her, it's my turn!"

Maegan noticed Wesley shifting uncomfortably as Dawn talked excitedly. "Hum, I don't know where Xander is. He was not in the room with them, but M. Wesley seems to know something." The witch observed sternly.

Wesley sat straighter and nervously fiddled with his glasses when five pairs of eyes turned to him. "I, hum, believe Xander has left. I overheard him and Buffy having a fight earlier."

"What do you mean, Xander left?" Anya shouted as she came in, closely followed by Margaret and the Council members.

"Hum-"

"Enough!" Exclaimed Travers. "I have been more than patient until now, but I will not tolerate any more of this."

None of them beside Angel noticed Dawn silently stepping back and heading upstairs.

* * *

'It better be this one', thought desperately the teenager. She was standing in front of a closed door. Another one. Dawn was so happy when she managed to sneak out of the room to warn Buffy about Travers, but the feeling didn't last long.

The hotel was huge and the only indication she had was a subtle nod from Angel to inform her that her sister was upstairs. She had roamed the first two floors unsuccessfully, and was now on the third one. The door she was in front of was only the second one, but she had a feeling about this one being the good one.

'It's not like I had the same exact feeling for three other doors', Dawn thought sheepishly. Her frown instantly turning into a wide grin when she heard faint noises on the other side, Dawn promptly twisted the knob and entered.

"Hey Buffy, I-eep! Oh my god I'm sorry!" Dawn squealed, covering her eyes and turned around quickly, giving Willow some privacy back.

"Jeez, Dawn! Ever heard of knocking?" Barked Buffy as she shot an annoyed look at her sister.

"I'm so sorry Will, I really should've knocked." Dawn apologized, turning back toward her sisters but keeping her hands over her eyes.

"It's fine, Dawnie." The redhead whispered, wincing at her still sore throat.

Buffy glanced at her friend, knowing Willow wasn't okay. The redhead was blushing as red as her hair and she was staring hard at the dying flames in the foyer, unshed tears in her eyes.

Gently squeezing her knee, Buffy waited for Willow to turn her attention back to her. She smiled reassuringly at her when she did, but it wasn't long before the smile changed to a smirk.

Wilow glared at her, but a tiny grin could be seen on her lips. "Shut up, it's not funny."

"No, of course it's not." Buffy admitted somberly, her tone completely lacking credibility. "Just consider yourself lucky it wasn't someone else, like Cordelia or, oh, Wesley!"

Buffy giggled when Willow's blush was instantly gone. "So, Dawn, When did you get here?"

"Oh, about twenty minutes? The others are downstairs but I wanted to see you guys." The teenager admitted sheepishly while listening at various sounds of fabric being ruffled. "Can I open my eyes now?"

"Yeah. Hey, Dawn? Do you think you could stay here a few minutes? I need to go talk to Angel."

Dawn's smile lighted the whole room. "Of course! You're going to see Tra-hum. Train! You're going to see Angel train?" She lamely tried to cover up her mistake.

"It's okay Dawn, I know about Travers." Willow told her, all trace of smile gone from her face. "Buffy, you promised-"

"I didn't promise anything. And I really am planning on going to talk to Angel." Buffy explained calmly as she helped Willow put on a black hooded sweartshirt. "And then we'll figure out something for Travers, okay?"

"No, not okay!" Willow snapped, jerking her arms away from Buffy when the girl tried to take her hand. "Do you really think I'll just stay here and sit and do nothing when Amy and Travers are here as well?"

"I didn't know Angel was going to bring Amy! And I didn't have any choice about Travers, Willow! He threatened us!" Buffy argued. She stood up and began pacing in the middle of the room, her fists clenched tightly.

"So? How is it so different from the other times?"

Buffy stopped to glance at her sister, who was listening intently at the argument, concern obvious on her face. "Listen Will, this is not the time, we-"

"No!" The redhead shouted before entering a painful coughing fit. Willow brought her hand to her throat, the burning pain quickly spreading down to her lungs and ribs.

Struggling to get her breathing under control, Willow felt a glass being gently pressed against her lips and a warm hand rubbing her back. Thankful for the fresh water, the redhead drained the whole glass quickly. "Better? Do you want more?"

Buffy put the empty glass on the night stand when Willow shook her head, but she kept her hand on her friend's back. "Will, I-"

"Don't." Willow warned her. "Promise me you won't go see her." She whispered.

Buffy glared at Willow's cast, refusing to make eye contact. She let out a long breath and forced herself to meet Willow's gaze when she felt a soft hand on her cheek. "Please?"

"Fine. I promise you." The slayer muttered before leaning to envelop her friend in a hug. She kissed her on the temple before standing up and run a restless hand on her clothes.

"I'll be right back, okay? I'm just going to go talk to Angel."

* * *

"What the hell is going on?" Gunn yelled when a shrill alarm suddenly echoed through the lobby.

The witches were instantly on their feet, already heading towards the basement. "Someone has crossed the ward!" Maegan barked angrily, Callie passing rapidly before her.

They all rushed after the witches, worried but curious at what was happening down stairs. Angel, who was the first down the basement after the witches, grunted when he accidently ran into Callie.

"I'm so sorry Callie!" The vampire finally saw what had triggered the alarm as he bent and gave his hand to the fallen witch. Buffy was sitting against the wall opposite to Amy's cell and was rubbing her head, pain evident on her face.

"Buffy!" Giles was the first one to react. "What the bloody hell are you doing down here?"

"I wanted to beat the crap out of that bitch!" She grunted as she swatted Giles's hand and slowly stood up, struggling to ignore the former rat's sick smirk. Amy was watching them with morbid fascination, her withdrawals only hitting her sporadically now.

"Drop the ward." She ordered Callie.

"No."

"What?" She shouted incredulously, staring hard at the long-haired witch.

Callie took a step forward to stop a few inches away from the slayer. "I said no. You can talk to her if you want, but there will be no violence of any kind."

Angel was about to protest and remind Callie of her decision of letting Amy to suffer from her magick withdrawals but a sharp glare kept him from voicing his opinion. "Nothing good would come out of it, and I don't believe Willow would approve." She soothingly explained not only to Buffy but to the others as well.

Buffy looked as if she was going to argue and possibly put on a fight with anyone crossing her path but, at the biggest surprise of all, she merely shrugged and sighed, defeated. "Fine. But I want to be alone with her."

* * *

"Willow?" Dawn hesitated as she slowly walked to the bed. The teenager rolled her eyes and bent down to grab the wet towels on the floor. 'God my sister is such a slob'.

The redhead was still staring at the door that Buffy had closed behind her when she left. "Yeah? She eventually answered when she felt the teenager sitting down next to her.

Dawn was watching her intently with a glint in her eyes. "Can I get a hug?" She asked shyly.

Willow grinned as she wrapped her arm around the taller girl's waist.

* * *

Buffy sighed in exasperation. She was sitting across the cell on the last step of the stairs, and had her arms wrapped around the railing. Amy had been everything but cooperative so far, and it was pissing her off.

To top it all, the witch was showing withdrawals symptoms again. Buffy was thinking of a way to convince Callie to take down the ward so she could beat the crap out of her when she noticed Amy slowly regaining the use of her limbs.

"It was about time." The slayer muttered. She jumped on her heels and walked to the cell. "Ready to talk yet?" She asked with a fake sympathetic tone.

"You know, only profoundly stupid people would willingly go through that shit." Amy grunted as she carefully sat up.

Buffy towered over her threateningly. "Only really profoundly stupid people wouldn't learn their lesson from going through something like that. Ready to talk yet?"

"Shouldn't you be taking care of Willow? She was in pretty bad shape before she managed to slug me...I bet she doesn't even know you're down here..."Amy smirked when she saw Buffy cringe.

Buffy took a deep breath, ready to just pound on the ward until it gave away. She wanted, no needed, to take that bitch down. "Fine", she said too calmly as she went to turn on all lights, making Amy squint under the harshness of the artificial lighting.

"You think you're in pain now, wait until the migraines and vomiting starts. I'm sure you'll love being as sick as a dog in your cold, plain cell."

The slayer was half-way upstairs when the former rat pleaded with her. "Wait! You can do something to lessen the pain?"

"Do you really think I'd let my best friend suffer like that?" She commented dryly, hoping the witch would buy it.

She hadn't done much to help Willow the first time she had quit magicks besides holding her, bathing her and feeding her when she was too weak to do it on her own.

It wasn't much, but part of her thought, believed that it had been better than what Amy had to face now. 'Not that she deserves better.'

"It all happened because of Rack's death..." Amy whispered tiredly.

* * *

"So, that's a nice stuffed animal you have there," Dawn commented curiously as she sat more comfortably on the redhead's bed. There, sitting at the base of the numerous pillows, was a big green and brownish turtle.

Dawn smiled at the way the turtle's eyes seems to be watching her with glee. She picked it up, not missing the way Willow stared when her new toy was taken away from her. "I'll give it back, silly!" The teenager chuckled softly, enjoying the softness of the stuffed animal before giving it back ot her owner, who grabbed it possessively.

"Where did you get it?" Asked Dawn while taking off her jacket. "Aren't you hot? It's hot as hell in here!" She exclaimed loudly, noticing that Willow's hair were almost already dry from her previous shower.

"Buffy gave her to me. She said it would be like my own M. Gordo." She revealed with a smile before she frowned, realizing for the first time that she was actually kinda hot.

"It is getting warm in here," she admitted. "Hum...could you...?" She asked softly, pointing at her baggy sweatshirt.

Dawn leaned forward with a grin and, carefully, helped the redhead out of the shirt she had put on a few minutes ago.

Willow winced when Dawn accidently brushed her hand against her once again bruised ribs. "Sorry, Will!" The teenager apologized quickly, and grimaced upon seeing the redhead's bruised arm and shoulder for the first time up-close.

"I'm okay, Dawn. Really." Willow assured the younger Summers's girl. Dawn shot her a doubtful look, but had the decency of letting the half-lie go. The teenager had other plans on her mind. "Willow? Um, why is your skin so cold and warm at the same time? It's kinda weird." She pried as she gently touched her friend's arm curiously.

Willow pondered the best way to answer for a moment as she absently pet her turtle with the tip of her casted hand. She was about to open her mouth when Dawn suddenly interrupted her. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked, and Buffy told me to not let you talk too much, and-"

"Dawn." The redhead sighed. "It's fine." 'Jeez, I've been saying that way too much lately...'

"The temperature thing? I'm not sure myself...miss Harkness said something about my body fighting off magicks whenever I use too much of it. It's not...It's like...ugh." Willow grunted, frustrated at not being able to explain properly.

"Is it like the powers you harnessed last spring makes it harder for your body to control them now? Like when you get sick after doing magicks because they're trying to overpower your body, and it reacts by fighting them off with the fever and shakes and stuff?" Dawn offered hopefully.

The teenager grinned slightly at the redhead's astonished look. "I read a lot this summer, and I kind of heard Callie talked with Buffy the other day." She added sheepishly.

"Hum...well, yeah, that's pretty much it...Dawnie, why'd you ask if you already knew?" Willow demanded tiredly.

Dawn, seeing Willow's shoulders slumping, helped her to lean back against the headboard before lying next to her, carefully resting her head on the redhead's thigh.

"Because I was curious. Something is obviously happening now, but you don't have a fever...what would happen if your body can't fight the magick off?" She whispered after an hesitation.

Dawn swallowed a lump when she was answered with a silence. "What are you guys going to do with Amy?" She asked, hoping to distract Willow and, mostly, herself.

Willow paused momentarily, the fingers that were running softly in the younger girl's hair stilling as well. "I honestly don't know. I'm kind of more worried about Travers for now, you know?"

"You don't have anything to be worried about, miss Rosenberg." Quentin Travers casually commented from the doorway. None of the girls had heard the man opening the door.

Dawn felt Willow tense as she sat up abruptly. "What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be up here!" Shouted the teenager. She was about to yell for her sister when Willow's hand grabbed her wrist. "Dawn, go." She ordered.

"What? No! I-"

"I said go, Dawn! Don't make me repeat myself", she pleaded with her, her eyes never leaving Travers's. "It's okay."

Willow forced herself to glance at the youngest Summers, trying to make her understand without having to talk.

With a scowl Dawn jumped off the bed and quickly exited the room, but not before glaring menacingly towards the watcher.

"Well, well, it took long enough but we are finally alone." The man expressed with a smirk. "Let's get down to business, shall we?"


	34. Chapter 34

Yes, this is an update! I am so sorry it took forever to get a new chapter up, but lots of things got in the way these past few months. I will try my best to post more regularly, especially since there aren't a lot of chapters left. Don't forget to review, and Happy New Year!

*This chapter is darker and might not please everybody. I tamed it as much as I could, but it deals with mature subjects. No sex and no violence, but consider yourself still warned.

* * *

Buffy stared heatedly at the witch before her, her eyes solely focused on the brunette before her.

She was listening silently to Amy, but she was raging inside. Things were going all wrong. She didn't want to be sitting in a basement with a former friend who seemed to take a lot of pleasure in recalling how she spent months planning a way to get back at Willow for killing Rack.

She wanted to be either upstairs dealing with Travers, or spend time with Willow. 'Wait, no, scratch that. I want that stupid ward to fall so I can slam the bitch on the wall. Hopefully repeatedly.' Buffy pondered.

The slayer sighed when the witch groaned before turning sharply to throw up in a garbage can strategically placed next to her. "I thought the shot your witch gave me was supposed to help." She grunted once her nausea was under control again.

"It does. But can you really blame her if she despises you for trying to kill my best friend? Consider yourself lucky she helped you at all."

"You can't just keep me in a cell forever! Been there, done that, remember?" Amy hissed.

Buffy stood and got as close as she could from the ward without being repelled. "Get over it! You were the one stupid enough to turn yourself into a rat without planning anything to change you back! And, considering you just spent the last twenty minutes telling me how you went around Sam to summon a pack of vicious demons so they would kill my best friend, keeping you in a cell forever would be perfectly fine by me!"

Amy sat up straighter and glared back at the blonde girl. "I didn't have a choice! I spent months being their pet witch, I was fed up! So yeah, I did what I had to do when I heard Willow was back in town. And it's not like you wouldn't have found a way to save your precious friend! I can't believe she still fights for you after everything you've done to her anyway."

"What?" Buffy seethed.

"I've seen it, Buffy. I felt it." Amy exclaimed solemnly. "I was inside of her, remember? I felt everything, whether I wanted it or not. You have no idea what she's been through when she brought you back, am I right? I thought so." She smirked when Buffy only stared blankly at her.

"She goes all out to bring you back, harness this insane amount of power, almost kills herself in the process, and how are you thanking her back? You thank her by ignoring her, and by hating her. I thought I was doing her a favor when I brought her to Rack's. All I wanted was for her to have a good time."

"That's why you took her to see a dark magick dealer?" Buffy scoffed. "And, and trade her for you so the army would have a new lab rat to play with while you're living the big life?"

Amy carefully stretched her legs before her, her eyes taking in the sparseness of her cell. "Well, if you want to see it like that..." She muttered distractedly.

Sharp voices kept Buffy to plunge forward, protection ward be damned. She glanced coldly at the new comer, her defensive stance relaxing slightly upon recognizing Angel.

Buffy's insides twisted sharply when the vampire locked eyes with her. 'What the hell is wrong now...'

* * *

A few blocks downtown, Xander sat under a brightly covered bar porch. He had his back against the building's brick wall. His eyes closed, he enjoyed the cool temperature, the soft sound of the rain that was falling rhythmically over his head slowly soothing his anger.

"So this is your hiding spot? Let me tell you, not very subtle."

Xander's eyes snapped open upon hearing the voice of one of the very few persons he wished he'd never see again. "Faith. How _not_ pleasant it is to see you."

"Wow. My rep must have been taken a freaking toll since you don't even seem to be scared of me..." She commented casually as she joined the young man under the covered porch.

"What are you doing? I thought this was my, albeit not very hidden, hiding spot. You're hogging it, so leave." Xander hissed as he waved his hands to scare off the slayer as if she was a single pigeon.

Faith snorted and instead got closer, and took a seat on the first dry carpet covered step she saw. "Got screwed by the rain while I was running. Needed a place to crash so I came to Lorne's." She justified herself with a frown. Xander thought the same thing as he blinked his eyes open again and stared at the younger slayer. "You're explaining yourself now? What world are we living in..." He muttered to himself, heedless of Faith's darkening features.

"Yeah, that's wicked rich to say coming from the guy who's turned his back on his best friends when they are needed the most. How's Red, by the way?" She challenged him.

Xander jumped to his feet and eyed the brunette slayer furiously, about ready to jump her. "Screw you Faith! You have no right of judging anything in the matter! Because, and correct me if I'm wrong, you spent months trying to kill us even though we were trying to help you!"

The slayer sighed and took a deep breath to keep her temper in check. She watched quietly Xander for a moment, not saying anything while the carpenter stood out in the middle of the sidewalk, the rain pouring down on him.

"Word is you're scared shitless of Red's powers, and that you can't accept it. But there's more, right? There's always more." She started slowly, her hands unconsciously wrapping her hoodie tighter around her.

"You don't understand it. Never really did, never really cared. Not until it started messing with your best friend's life. Is screwing over a lifelong friendship over something you don't get really worth it?" Faith pushed, somewhat pleased with herself when she noticed that Xander seemed to be listening to what she was saying.

"Come on, Harris. We all mess up. You know perfectly well how I fucked up everything when I was in Sunnydale. I had excuses to act like I did, but not as legitimate as Red- Willow's girl dying in her arms."

Faith couldn't quite muster a smile when Xander turned around and slowly edged closer to her, but she at least managed to keep any snarky remarks at bay. "Is jail really got you all insightful and, I don't know, sane?" He asked her curiously.

Grinning, Faith shrugged and pointed to the door behind her. "Listen, the point is that you have to start to listen if you want to make things right with Red and B. They still need you whether you feel it or not. They're your girls, Xand, don't throw that away 'cause you're pissed and scared."

"You're going to lose something great, and when you finally realize it, it'll be too late to even try to fix it."

Xander lift his head and locked eyes with the younger slayer, both understanding Faith's message for what it really is. "Now, you have two options. Well three, but we'll start with two."

"One, you can go back there and face B's wrath or, even worse, face Cordy's, who's planning on biting your head off the minute she sees you." Faith smirked at Xander's blanching face.

"Two, you can sneak your way back into the hotel and try to talk to Red. Cordelia called to say she finally woke up but, looking at you right now, facing her would only screw things up even more. Plus, B's with her, so you'd get beaten down to a bloody pulp."

"Well, those are really great options Faith, either way I get my head bitten off. Why don't you throw option number three as long as we're here?" Xander snapped angrily.

Faith smiled and pointed again at the door behind them. "Three, we go see Lorne, have a couple of drinks and when we get the clear from Cordy or Angel, we go back there and face the music."

Xander quickly glanced between Faith and the bar. "Can we get the all-you-can-eat nuts bowl too?"

* * *

"It appears we are about to have company." Quentin Travers commented with a small grin.

The man stood from the chair he had brought by the bed just as a stifled voice started cursing out in the hall. He leisurely pushed the chair back by the desk, knowing the young girl sitting on the bed eyed his every move closely.

"Well, Miss Rosenberg, it's been a lovely discussion. We will get back to you as soon as we've worked out the details." He added as a loud pounding startled Willow. "You really should get the door open for her before she pounds right through it."

Willow winced at what, or rather who, was waiting for her outside the door. Giles and the others had left without causing too much of a scene, but Buffy was definitely going to be another story.

Feeling Travers's eyes staring her heavily, Willow made a small but swift wrist movement, and braced herself when a soft blue light encompassed the door briefly.

An infuriated slayer burst the door open a second later, an anxious watcher in her wake.

Buffy rushed instantly to Willow's side, putting herself between her friend and the English man. "I believe it's time for you to go now." She warned with a barely concealed threat in her tone.

"Or what? Have you forgotten about our discussion in the car?" Travers retorted with a knowing grin. "We were done anyway, this has been very interesting." He added, glancing at Willow over Buffy's narrow shoulders.

Giles watched the exchange silently, willing himself to remain out of the argument. The last thing to do would be to join the fight. He was well aware it would only aggravate matters for Willow.

As he shifted his head to take a glimpse at the redhead on the bed, Giles sighed at what he saw. Willow seemed on the edge of snapping, but whether she would start yelling or crying he didn't know.

The watcher had his answer when the young witch felt his eyes on her and locked eyes with him. He saw her fear and her frustration, but something else gave him shivers down his spine. 'No, you did not...'

"Enough".

Buffy turned and stared incredulously at her best friend.

"Let Travers alone, Buffy", Willow pleaded even though she eyed the slayer with a firm gaze.

"What?"

Willow ignored her friend's protest and shifted her eyes briefly to Giles before settling them on Travers. "We're done, please leave me alone."

Buffy raised her eyes to stare desperately at the ceiling, digging her hands in her hair in an attempt at keeping her emotions under control.

Travers smirked as he walked to the door. "Mind walking with me, Rupert? I am certain you are dying to know about the lovely discussion I had with Miss Rosenberg."

Buffy and Willow watched the two men leave, neither reacting when Giles glanced over his shoulders before closing the door behind him.

"Giles?" Willow called as he closed the door. "Could you ask Callie to come up soon? I need to talk to her".

Giles nodded and left, leaving the two girls in an awkward silence.

Willow waited, but she knew Buffy wouldn't be the one to make the first step. She opened her mouth to talk, but nothing came out. Frowning, she cleared her throat, wincing in the process.

"Do you want water?"

Without waiting for an answer Buffy walked over to the mini fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. Opening it and handing it to her friend, Buffy turned around to go face the window again.

"How mad are you?"

Buffy sighed. She put her arms around her to keep herself warm even though it was still pretty hot in the room. "On the scale of 10? About 20".

She didn't turn although she could hear Willow fidgeting on the bed. "Why the hell did you have to do that?" She snapped.

"I did what I had to do".

The slayer scoffed. "Is that right? It seems that I wasn't told of that new plan, because last time we checked, the plan was for you to lay low and let us deal with Travers!"

Willow's temper was starting to rise. "How was I supposed to do that? He threatened me, he threatened to go after you and Dawn! I couldn't just sit here like an invalid and let you guys get hurt because of me!"

Buffy turned to face her friend, anger showing in her eyes. "Open your eyes, Will! They've been after us for years! I'm not the only one they want to keep under their control, they've been wanting you for a long time already...They've monitored you ever since they came here for Glory! They knew you were getting addicted and all they did was to take notes of it!"

"I, I..." Willow was shocked. Buffy watched her best friend try to wrap her mind around the new facts. Buffy herself was frantically thinking to come up with something to get her out of Travers's grasp.

She wasn't expecting Willow's answer when she finally spoke. "It doesn't change anything, I still have to go through with it".

Buffy stared at her, her mouth opened, her previous thoughts forgotten. "What the hell is wrong with you! You've seen what they did to me whenever they had a chance, you can't honestly want that for you!"

Willow ducked her head to hide her tears from the slayer. She didn't want to give her yet another thing to be yelling about. "I don't know what else to do...I have to do what it takes to protect you and Dawnie, you would have done the same thing!"

"You want to protect me, to help me? Then lose the fucking death wish!" Buffy exploded.

Willow chuckled angrily, lifted her head and quickly wiped her tears away. "Did Giles or Callie talk to you? I wasn't trying to get killed when the demons attacked me, just like I am not trying to get myself killed by joining the Council! I know what I'm doing! Can't you all leave me alone with the freaking death wish already?"

Buffy stood next to the bed, dumbfounded. She stared at Willow, what she was about to say completely forgotten.

All the previous comments made by Maegan, Amy and the others were rushing back to her, making the slayer's skin crawl. Still shocked, Buffy slowly sat on the bed, her eyes riveted on her best friend.

Buffy watched Willow closely, not sure if she would be able to voice her worse fears out loud. They stayed in silence for a couple of minutes before Buffy finally whispered the dreaded words. "Please...please tell me it isn't true."

The redhead only sat straighter on the bed, her eyes locking with her best friend and finally letting her see in her what she had been working so hard to hide these past few months.

Buffy covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes widening. "Oh my God. Oh God, I think I'm going to be sick." The slayer jumped out of bed and ran to the adjoining bathroom.

Willow winced as she heard Buffy get sick. Blinking to clear her teary eyes, she tucked her trembling hand under her and took deep and slow breaths to keep herself calm. Tuning out all sounds around her, Willow jumped when there was a slight knock on the door.

"What's going on?" Asked Callie as soon as she entered the room. She frowned at Willow's strained face and immediately went to her. "What happened? Are you in pain? Sweetheart, talk to me."

Willow softly shook her head. "She knows."

"Who knows what? Where's Buffy?" Callie prompted as she glanced around the room. She sighed in relief when she heard movements in the bathroom, assuming that's where Buffy was. It was short-lived though as Willow's voice brought her attention back to the redhead. "What do you think, Callie? That I told her about the freaking Easter bunny? She knows!" Willow finished in a high-pitched and panicked voice.

The opening of the bathroom door kept Callie from answering. She looked up to see a pale and teared-up slayer warily making her way back into the room. Callie stood up to give the two friends some more time alone but Buffy gestured for her to stay.

Buffy took a deep breath and went to sat on the bed only a few inches away from Willow. Although she looked at her with upset but open eyes, Willow repressed a shiver as she took in the slayer's expression. She knew she'd have to answer honestly about whatever her best friend was about to ask.

Feeling suddenly very small, Willow brought her hands together and started fiddling with her cast. The redhead widened her eyes in surprise when she heard what the small blonde decided to ask first.

"When?"

* * *

"What?"

"Dawn!" Giles snapped at the teenager's loud exclamation. He had a headache and the girl's high-pitched voice did nothing to improve things.

"But it can't be, she wouldn't do that!" Dawn argued. She was sitting in the hotel lobby, along with Giles, Maegan and Angel. Cordelia and come and left, dragging Gun with her to who knows where, and Margaret and Wesley had gone to the ex-watcher's apartment to collect books.

Angel sighed and glanced to the stairs. "It makes perfect sense, actually. She's done it to get Travers off your back."

"But it's stupid! It's Buffy's job, not hers!"

"Dawn..." Giles tried to calm her down.

"No!" The teenager shouted before storming out in the kitchen. The vampire and watcher watched her go before glancing to each other.

"What did she do exactly?" Angel asked, wishing Wesley was there to share his council-related knowledge. Giles had the more experience when it came to the council, but Wesley was from the new generation, he was closer to the 'big picture' than Giles was.

Giles took off his glasses but, instead of cleaning them, dropped them on the coffee table before him. "I'm not sure yet. Willow didn't say anything and Travers mainly gloated, saying something about how this new addition would change the council's reputation."

"Where is Travers anyway?" Maegan asked softly. She could feel something going on upstairs and it was making her nervous, but Callie was there, so she tried to not think about it too much.

"I don't have a clue." Giles sighed. "He could have walked into a vampire's nest for all I care. He and his bloody watchers left without saying anything."

Angel glanced at the watcher, his expression grim. "You don't think they left to plan a way to take Willow back with them in England?"

Giles locked eyes with the vampire. "They better not."

* * *

"When?"

Willow shared a look with Callie, not sure how to start. Sensing the slayer's impatience, the redhead swallowed hard. "Do you mean the day, what set it off, or..." Willow trailed off before stopping when she saw Buffy staring at her. "Right..."

Willow closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Words wouldn't be enough to explain what happened. She didn't feel strong enough to go through everything knowing she would have to deal with her best friend's eyes on her. "I, I'm not sure how to put words on what happen, I want, I really want you to understand but I don't know how to say it."

Buffy ignored Callie when she shifted to give the girls some space and went to sit on the loveseat. The slayer locked eyes with the redhead and moved closer. "Then show me."

The surprised look Willow shot Buffy only lasted a second, and before she either of them could change their mind, Willow grabbed her friend's hand.

[ "Willow, focus!" Callie snapped.

The witch hadn't meant to shout at the young redhead, but they had been at it for hours already. After over a month of recovery in the small coven of witches in Devon, it had been decided that, instead of draining her from all remaining powers, the safest way to help out Willow was to rehabilitate her and start her magical training from the beginning.

The plan sounded far more easier in theory, though. Truth be told, It had taken everything Giles had to convince Margaret and the others it was the best thing to do. Once an agreement was reached it had taken almost a week to convince Willow to at least try to do magicks again.

The first training day had been uneventful. On the second and third days, Willow managed to levitate a feather and light a candle.

Today was different. Willow and Callie had been working in a spare room of the south wing, since the young witch wasn't willing to step outside the mansion yet. Margaret, Maegan and a few other witches were spread around the room, carefully watching them.

Tension was heavy in the room as Willow tried, for the fourth time that day, to perform an elemental spell. Willow winced and took a shaky breath as she tried to regain her focus. She hated being in a room full of strangers that despised her for what she had done. She hated being in a room halfway across the world, cut out from her family, without anyone to talk too but, essentially, it was killing her to be away from her dead soulmate.

It was killing her to think that Tara was buried back in Sunnydale, and that she didn't even had time to tell her goodbye. They had left quickly after Xander had stopped her at the Kingman's Bluff, so she had missed her lover's funeral.

Ever since Willow had become lucid enough to remember everything, the only things she could think about was how she had let her friends down, how they had hurt them and betrayed them. She couldn't stop thinking about how Tara would be disappointed and ashamed of her.

Wrapped up in her thoughts, Willow's focus slipped again for a split second. That was all the spell needed though to backfire. The ice she was attempting to change into fog suddenly flared and a bright blue flame lighted up the room.

Callie jumped back and stumbled into a young blonde-haired witch, sending them both to the floor. Maegan was on Willow the next second, pinning her magically to the ground.

"Enough!"

Margaret Harkness came forward and motioned everyone to leave the room. She put a hand on Callie's shoulder to encourage her to go when the witch refused to leave. Callie glared at Maegan before letting herself be escorting outside.

Willow was still down, her breathing labored and her body crushed under the force of Maegan's magicks. The spiked-haired witch came closer when Willow tried to move to relieve the acute pain in her back and leaned forward. "We are done with you, Rupert Giles or not."

"Miss Tornwood!"

Maegan turned around at the sharp voice. A small, aged woman was standing near the door and was eyeing darkly the witch on the floor.

"Miss Tornwood, please escort miss Rosenberg to her room and prepare her for a cleansing spell."

"Yes, miss Brennan."]

Buffy frowned at what she was seeing. She could feel the witches's hostility toward her friend and she finally started to get how truly powerful Willow was.

Without having to open her eyes, Buffy knew sharing her memories was extremely hard on Willow. The redhead's hand was shaking badly in hers and her breathing was coming in shallow breaths. Buffy squeezed Willow's hand to offer her some comfort but gasped when a sudden and overwhelming pressure forced her eyes open.

[Willow's room was cold and bare. The usually tidy room was now almost completely sterile. The bed was undone and the opened curtains lighted crudely the room, giving it an even more austere feel.

The room and the adjacent living room were both completely silent if it weren't for soft sobbing sounds. In the far corner of the room, Willow laid on her side, her barely covered body shivering under the opened window's cool breeze.

The redhead was curled up as best as she could in the corner but she knew it didn't matter. The old witch would be coming back for her again. Willow whimpered and slowly lowered her arms from her face. Her eyes were red and swollen from all the crying.

The witch had lied. She had announced a cleansing but she had upgraded the spell to a forceful purging spell as soon as she had been alone with Willow.

The spell had been much stronger than any other cleansing or purging spell they had performed on Willow so far. The energies used had sent excruciating pain throughout the redhead's body, leaving her weak and sick.

Willow painfully sat up and covered herself with the sheet. She couldn't deal with having to go through another day there. She had fought continuously for months to recover from something she had no wish to come back from. Because, despite of Giles's numerous reassurances, Willow didn't believe she had anything left: Tara was gone and her family hated her.

She hated herself.

She wasn't worth serving, like Maegan had told her again and again. She was a threat that the slayer would have to take care of eventually, magical training or not.

She couldn't impose that to her friend.

Willow dragged herself up, leaning against the wall to support herself. She walked slowly to the window and let the breeze cool down her feverish body. The redhead closed her eyes, took a deep breath and threw her fist through the glass.]

Buffy choked down a sob. She couldn't take it anymore. Tears ran down her face as images of Willow covered in blood overwhelmed her. Her hand was still in the redhead's, Willow holding on to it with all her might.

The images soon started to get blurry and she could feel Willow slowly pushing her back from her mind. Buffy could still hear faint footsteps hurrying to the witch's room, and recognized the sudden exclamations as being Callie's and Giles's. The last image Buffy saw before leaving her best friend's mind was one of her watcher stripping the sheets off of the bed to try and stop the heavy bleeding coming from the redhead's arms .

The pulling sensation intensified for a moment before it completely stopped. Everything in Buffy's mind was blank again and all she could hear was the sounds of her heavy breathing and of her pounding heartbeat.

Willow trying to take her hand back snapped Buffy out of her thoughts. She quickly opened her eyes and grabbed her friend's hand with both of her hands, refusing to let her go.

"Willow, I..."

Willow briefly shook her head. "Don't. Please don't, ok? You wanted to know, and now you do."

Buffy sniffled and nodded weakly. "You didn't say when."

"I, I..."

"If I may," started softly Callie, startling both young women. They had forgotten about the witch's presence. Callie cleared her throat and stood up, not sure if she should come closer or not. "Buffy..."

"It's fine, you can tell me."

"Buffy...do you remember a few months ago, when Giles called you and you got into a fight? You wanted to come to England but he wouldn't let you?"

The slayer nodded and glanced at Willow. The redhead sat still on the bed and kept her head down.

"He told me I would mess up her recovery, that you were finally making some progress."

"It happened the day after. Rupert had just changed his mind and wanted you to come after all when he got our call. When he got to the Coven we saw a witch running toward us and telling us what Willow had done. It was almost already too late when we got there. She worked quickly." Finished Callie with a chiding tone that was directed to the redhead.

Buffy looked at Willow, her eyes burning. "You thought we were done with you? That we wouldn't talk to you, or see you ever again? You're my best friend, Will! How could you think that?"

Willow sighed and finally met her best friend's hurt eyes. "It's not what you'd said the night I left."

All color drained from Buffy's face. "What?"

"I heard you. You thought I was out of it and you were talking to Giles. You said I wasn't your best friend anymore and that Giles had to take me away with him."

"Will? No, it's not what I said, it was out of context, it's not what you think!"

"I need you to go now, okay? I need to talk with Callie."

Buffy shook her head incredulously. "What? No! We have to talk, I-"

"Buffy, please!" Willow whispered. "We'll talk more later, I promise, but now I need to talk to Callie!"

Buffy stopped pacing and stared at both witches, hurt clearly visible on her face. She turned around, her shoulders slumped and not able to contain her tears anymore. "This is not over. I'll go take a shower or go kill something and I'll come back. And we will talk whether you want it or not."

Willow watched the slayer leave the room quickly, too fast for her to say anything. 'Please be careful...'

"What do you want to talk about, Willow?" Callie asked, dreading of what the young redhead wanted to talk about.

Willow wiped her tears away and shot a determined look at her mentor.

"I want you to help me heal myself."

-to be continued-


End file.
